Sweet Dreams
by Ori and Benny
Summary: Dante Doe's life has gotten better ever since his father left his family. He is a percussionist in his band, an average student, and a server. Then the Akatsuki showed up. His life is turned upside down. When it feels like life couldn't get worse a dark force shows itself, and the only ones that can save Dante and his family is the Akatsuki. The only problem: can Dante trust them?
1. Intro

**Hello dear readers, this is the author of the story you bothered to read. I just wanted to say that this is indeed another 'Akatsuki-comes-to-the-real-world' stories in which everyone seems obsessed with writing and reading. I figured that since there are so many, I might as well attempt to try my hand at one. This story has about four characters that I have just created along with a character that my best friend created. Yes, I indeed have another story on Fanfiction. It's called 'Life Is Beautiful'. However, that is a completely different story with totally different characters in it. I wanted this to be my clean start at a story to see if more people enjoy it. If you find yourself liking this story then I urge you to keep reading. It might change your views on different things. I hope it does in some ways. That's the purpose behind a story.**

**Copyright: Dante Doe, Madeline (Maddie) Doe, the Doe parents, students of Lake High School mentioned, Dr. Jackson, and the Fakes all belong to me. Layne Wheeler is owned by Vengeance4DD, who doesn't bother to write! The Akatsuki are owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Any song, movie, anime, book, or anything else mentioned in this story belongs to their proper owners.**

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><p><span><strong><em>Intro<em>**

It happened nearly twelve years ago. I can't remember every last detail, but I remember most of it. At the time, I was six. Maddie, my younger sister, was four. Both her and I sat around on the floor playing with masses of brightly colored toys. Everything felt extremely peaceful with us not caring about anything besides the toys. Every once in a while, Maddie would sneakily steal one of my cars or action figures, which made me angry. I would end up taking the toy back only to return to playing. For some reason, she never cried. She simply sucked on her thumb then watched me play with the toy. She's always been this strange. It wouldn't be until later that we learned that she had Schizophrenia. Only that's not the point. The point is that it's only when I picked up my Spiderman action figure that my life changed forever.

"What do you mean you're leaving?!" my mom yelled.

Both Maddie and I glanced up in time to watch our dad come into the living room. He's wearing his fancy black jacket and carrying his suitcase. At the time, I didn't understand what's going on.

"Daddy are you leaving?" I asked.

His body flinched as he looks down at us with his cold blue orbs. He doesn't have a single emotion on his face. It's almost unsettling how emotionless he was, now that I think about it.

"Yes son." he answers

His monotone voice could only be described as deep. You can tell he smokes because he has that horrible smoker's voice that makes you cringe when you first hear it.

"Daddy." Maddie spoke.

He glanced down at her with an even colder look.

Stop sucking your thumb." he ordered.

Being only four, she couldn't process the order well enough. He took a step forward probably ready to hurt her, but my mom comes right in. She's crying with a scowl on her face. It's even more unsettling when you see that on the face of my mother who always looked so soft and kind like mother's should.

"If you're going to leave just leave!" she growled.

It's always at this point that my memory turns a little fuzzy. I couldn't process what happened next. All I remember is my dad heading out the front door. He left, and I haven't seen him ever since. Now, I'm eighteen years old. I am a Junior at Lake Local Schools in Hartville, Ohio. A percussionist in the marching band. A huge anime nerd. A huge fan of metal and rock music. I am a part of the most boring part of Ohio, a state that's weather is always unpredictable. Everything is peaceful. Everything is going good for my family.

However, everything is about to change for me. Everything is about to change my life in a way I could never have imagined

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><p><strong>Next chapter shall be the 1st chapter. The Akatsuki will arrive in it. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the intro because it leads to a lot of things. Please review or tell me what you think.<strong>


	2. Here Comes Trouble

**Hey readers, I am sorry about the late posting of the 1st chapter, but I have been busy getting school work and band stuff done. Yeah, I should admit now that I am a trumpet player in the band, and that is much more work than people think it is. I won't use it as an excuse since a great author once said 'Excuses to get away from writing proves that you don't want to write'. Keeping that in mind, I am proud to give you the 1st chapter of Sweet Dreams!**

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><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

"Shut up!"

The alarm clock continued to blare next to my head. It ignored my protests, and practically laughed at me. My hand attempted to feel for the stupid thing as I buried my head underneath my pillow. Why do I have to have so much shit on my side table? It's too much work to move my hand around the objects just to find the small black rectangular prism that I called my alarm clock. After a good minute, I found it then tried to find the button that would make it shut the hell up so I can get some sleep. Heck, I'm on a four day weekend break from all the shit that comes with going to school. Why are there so many buttons on an alarm clock? Seriously, do all alarm clocks have a million tiny buttons or is this the only clock on the face of the planet that decides to rebel against its owner so that it doesn't have to be ordered to wake the owner every single day? Losing all my patience, I started pushing random buttons. The first couple of buttons did nothing, but the fifth or sixth caused the volume to increase. I smirked as I push the next button in order to silence the stupid thing completely. Once it has been muted, I started to fall back into slumber. Everything was peaceful until…

"Dante!"

Groaning, I heard the door slam open.

"Dante get up!"

"But mom, there's no school today."

"I know, but I promised your band director that you would come in early to help with Solo and Ensemble."

"Mom…which one? There are four band directors."

"Mr. Kibler."

I silently cursed into my pillow. Mr. Kibler, the lead band and music programs director would certainly force me into showing up. If it has been Mr. Tryon, I might have gotten out of it.

"Get ready. He wants you to be there at eight."

"What time is it now?"

"Six."

"Couldn't I sleep for another hour?"

"No, you have to get ready now. Dante, don't make me get your grandpa in here or he'll dump cold water on you again. Do you want that?"

"No."

Sitting up, winced at my lit room. You would think it wouldn't be so bright in here thanks to all the dark posters, pictures, and furniture. However, thanks to the white painted walls and ceiling, it is. My hands rubbed my eyes as they slowly adjusted to the light.

"Did you make coffee?" I yawned.

"Yes." My mom replied.

"Wonderful, I have something to keep me alive for the next couple hours."

She silently shook her head.

"Dante, your grandpa and I will be spending the night up in Cleveland. The doctors are going to be running some tests to see if he is able to get new lungs or not. Your sister is with Layne dog sitting for one of Layne's aunts. She'll be home on Monday. Make sure to keep your phone on in case she calls."

"Seriously? I'm going to be home alone?"

"Just for tonight."

She didn't say anything else. She just left the room. I hate staying home alone at night! My house settles into itself at night making all sorts of noises that make you think that someone is breaking in. I remember growing up thinking that the noises were monsters waiting to eat me like a snake eats a mouse. I pictured different colorful monsters with or without teeth just swallowing me whole. Call it stupid, but I still have a fear of the dark.

"Dante are you getting ready?" my mom called from the other side of the now closed door.

"Yeah!"

Stumbling to my feet, I crossed the room into my bathroom. I flicked on the light before immediately spinning to shut the wooden door. Once it's shut, I began the long process of getting ready to start the day. A hot shower followed by ten minutes of waiting for my skin to go from hot pink back to my slightly tan skin tone. After my skin turns back to its rightful color, I start to brush my wet mop of jet black hair that hates me with a burning passion. Ever since I hit the age when my body started to change, it grows longer on the right side of my face. The unevenness forces me to style it in the same way that I see Alucard from Hellsing do when he has shorter hair. The style somewhat suits me…or that's what my mom and sister say. My grandpa thinks I should cut my hair into the military hairstyle, but I refuse since I hate that hairstyle with an equally burning passion.

"Damn it!"

The comb that I had used broke in half thanks to my thick, stubborn hair. This is the fourth comb I have broken in the last two months. Tossing the comb into the small dark blue trashcan, I glared at myself in the mirror. Two jade green orbs remind me that I have the same eyes as my mother. It makes me thankful since I can't stand my dad's eyes.

"Oh well."

Seeing as I couldn't do anything else, I decided that I might as well get dressed. Armed with nothing besides a towel around my waist, I opened the door to find myself face to face with my mom. I jumped slightly not knowing that she had been there.

"You broke another comb?" she asked.

"Yes." I answered.

We both burst out laughing.

"You have my hair." She mused.

"Could I get a refund for it?"

"A refund? No, it's a final sale."

"Dang."

"I forgot to mention that Mama Lela called and wants you to work a shift later on today."

I frowned. I love my job. It's the best job in the world, but I wanted a little bit of freedom today. Oh well, at least I can get some overtime for this.

"Okay."

"Are you going to work it?"

"Yeah, I don't really have a choice."

"Okay Dante, don't overwork yourself today."

I nodded my head as she left the room. She shut the door softly behind her. Sighing, I knew today would be a long one.

…

Damn it. My whole body is sore. Mama Lela had me working a total of six hours after Mr. Kibler had me working three hours. I haven't been home in nine hours. It's five o'clock in the afternoon, and I just got home. Staring up at my house, I find myself thinking about how kind my grandpa had been to take us in after my asshole of a father ditched us. His house is pretty large thanks to the many years he saved up along with the security company he founded. Even though he's rich, he works me to the bones at a church where family friends run the place. They have me serving people, cleaning dishes, setting up the place, and cooking. Sometimes, I end up lifting boxes of fresh goods into the kitchen for them. It's a lot of work, but I enjoy seeing the smile people have when they experience stuff in the hall. It's only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The money I get heads towards my college funds or gas for my car.

Jumping up the steps, I strolled across the porch towards the door. I can't wait to get some leftover meatloaf then indulge in anime. I probably should get around to looking at the music for the concert tomorrow at Solo and Ensemble, but I rather relax for now. Hmm, I think I'll watch some Naruto Shippuden, since I'm in the mood to see some Akatsuki action. Since Maddie isn't around, I don't have to watch any of the episodes with Itachi Uchiha in it. I swear she is the biggest Itachi fangirl on the face of the planet. I smile at this as I unlocked the door before pushing it open. Personally, I am a Sasori fanboy. He's better than Itachi, and has more personality then that block of ice. If I ever met him, I think that I would die. He's the coolest puppet ever, and the very fact that he's able to prove the Akatsuki to be strong is enough to make him my favorite character. Hymning, I stepped inside the living room. I shut the door before pulling off my dress shoes. I placed them on the mat then glanced around the living room. Something is off, but I can't think what it is for the life of me. Orange caused me to flinch before I realized that someone is stupidly hiding behind the lamp. He's dressed like Tobi from the Akatsuki, but he isn't wearing the cloak so I figured he is just trying to be an asshole.

"Hey dumbass!" I shouted at the man, "Who the hell are you and why are you in my house?"

He didn't move. I think that he didn't know I spoke to him. Great, maybe he's some sort of idiot that someone at school put up to this. I don't know who would be rude like that, but he's going to have to leave.

"I'm talking to you lollipop!" I said.

The Tobi cosplayer shook slightly before moving out from behind the lamp.

"You must be really skilled at finding people." He stated, "Tobi was sure that Tobi was well hidden from you."

I almost face palmed at his statement. Okay, this is a prank. It has to be.

"I don't know who you are but you could have at least picked a better hiding place then from behind a lamp." I sighed.

"Tobi is Tobi's name." he laughed, "Tobi is going to be an Akatsuki member soon."

"Good for you now could you leave?" I replied, "I don't have time for this."

He stared at me, or I think that he was. It's hard to tell with that stupid mask on. Damn, that mask looks much more real than any other Tobi mask I have seen. It actually looks like it's attached to his face.

"But Tobi has to capture you so that Tobi can impress the Akatsuki." He muttered.

I study him for a while. He's really taking this seriously.

"Deidara-Sempai will be proud of me."

"Neat."

"Leader-Sama will be impressed."

"Neat."

He stopped talking.

"Tobi, I don't know who put you up to this…"

"No one did. Tobi is trying to help the Akatsuki like a good boy."

"Where are these so called 'Akatsuki' now?"

I almost hated myself for sinking to his level with this. However, I might as well get some fun out of this.

"Right here!" someone said from behind.

I flinched about ready to turn, but someone hit me on the back of the neck hard. Everything turned black for me as I fell forward hitting the ground.

…

Familiar voices coming from all around caused me to stir from my unconscious state. Something is wrapped tightly around my upper body keeping me against something hard. So, I think I'm tied to a chair.

"When is the bastard going to fucking wake up?"

"I don't know but be quiet Hidan. You're giving me a headache."

"Screw you Kakuzu!"

I agree with 'Kakuzu' on how loud 'Hidan's' voice is. It's making me have a headache as well. It's probably also thanks to whoever knocked me out in the first place.

"Tobi is a good boy! Tobi will wake him up!"

Someone started to shake me hard as my eyes burst open to find the bright mask male to be the cause of it. He must have noticed that I'm up, since he slowly stopped.

"Tobi is a good boy!" he screamed.

"Shut up." I growled.

Just like I thought, I'm tied to a chair. The voices coming from all around belonged to more people dressed like the other Akatsuki members. At first, I think this is all a group of cosplayers, but then it dawned on me that there's no way that anyone could make their skin look so naturally blue like the Kisame. It couldn't be paint, and it sure as hell isn't a body suit. The Zetsu couldn't make his skin look naturally like that or the Venus Flytrap part of him look that real. These people are…THE REAL AKATSUKI! Oh my god, this can't be happening! How is this even possible?!

"Boy," Pein spoke, "Tell us, where are we?"

"H-Hartville." I replied.

They glanced at one another.

"I never heard of that village before." Kisame said.

"Neither have I." Sasori agreed, "He's lying to us."

Now that just hurt. I can't believe that Sasori thinks I'm lying. I can't say that I blame him for not seeing that, but fuck it, I'm going to make him see my way.

"What country are we in?" Pein asked.

"The United States of America." I answered.

Something hard struck me as my head pounded while my vision swam. He just bitch slapped me across my face.

"Do not lie to us, boy." He coldly said, "We do not have time for it."

I stared back at him slightly surprised. Who the hell slaps someone like that?

"I'm not lying." I replied, "This is Hartville, Ohio in the United States of America."

He lifted his hand to slap me again, but Konan stopped him.

"Pein, I don't think he is lying to us." She spoke, "That jutsu we used must have sent us to another world. Just take a look around. Everything looks different."

Pein did glance around. His expression turned to shock before going emotionless again. He glanced at me.

"Boy, I am going to make a deal with you." He told me, "We need someone who is able to tell us all about this new world and a place to act as base until we are able to get back to our world. If you help us, we'll allow you to live. Got that?"

"Yes sir." I nodded.

"Good."

The rope that bounded me to the chair snapped as a kunai easily sliced through it like it were butter. I can't believe that this is happening. This is something that happens in Fanfiction. Not in real life where logic rains control.

"What is your name?" Pein asked.

"My name is Dante….Dante Doe." I answered.

"Dante, you will not speak about us to anyone and you will not try to run away from us unless you want to die. You will also have a member watching you at all time until we know you won't betray us."

"Okay."

It only then occurred to me that I have to reveal to them about my grandpa, mom, and Maddie. If I didn't then they might attack them the minute they walked through the door. Damn, I have so much to plan so that my family is safe from the Akatsuki. Could I manage to pull this off like in all those Fanfiction stories? God, I hope so.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading, and please review.<br>**


	3. Mal

**Hey there readers, it's me again. I am sorry for taking down the original 2nd chapter, but I couldn't go anywhere with it. Oh well, I decided to rewrite it. This version still has my OC Malcolm (Mal) Baitman involved in it. He's a funny character that reminds me a little bit of myself. I won't spare much more time since I want to get to the story. All I have to do is the copyright for him.  
><strong>

**Copyright: Malcolm (Mal) Baitman belongs to me. Any use of my characters without my permission will get you in trouble. Just should mention that. **

**Here's the 2nd chapter of Sweet Dreams.  
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><p><strong>Dream (Dante's POV)<br>**

My house is quiet besides the faint sounds of laughter and a crunching noise. My heart thumped lightly in my head. I couldn't bring myself to move. I glanced from left to right. Why the hell am I scared? I'm the fucking man of the house for now. Biting my tongue, I forced myself into taking steps. My body felt like someone is pressing down on it. It's hard to move. It's so heavy. I growled. No way in hell am I going to just stay there. Pushing my way into the kitchen/dining/living room area, I saw the dim lighting catching the figures that I knew as the Akatsuki. They're crowded around something that I couldn't see. The crunching noise grows. It doesn't take long for me to realize just what the hell that sound is. It's the sounds of bones snapping. I know it well from the time that I broke my hand from boxing. My eyes travel to the ground as I gasped. Blood is forming a puddle under the members' feet. My gasp must have been heard by those assholes because they turned to face me. Psychotic smiles on their faces catches me off guard. I stepped back only to find my back against the cold wall behind me. They step apart enough for me to see just what the hell is going on. My eyes widened. My mouth opened as I let out a scream. The scream echoed through the house. There on the floor laid the body of my poor little sister all torn and broken. I barely recognized her at all.

"Maddie!" I screamed, "You fucking bastards! You promised not to hurt her!"

More laughter, the type that didn't seem human, came from them. Now, I couldn't see their damn faces.

"We never promised that." Pein said, "We only promised not to hurt you!"

My mouth shut. I covered my eyes to make sure they didn't see the tears streaking down my face.

"This girl was promised to us." A voice that didn't sound human spoke, "Her soul belongs to us. Your soul belongs to us."

"No!" I yelled, "No!"

It's the only thing I could managed to say. I slid down the wall into a seated position against the wall. My body shook, but my hands remained covering my eyes.

"I don't belong to you!" I shouted, "Leave me the FUCK alone!"

Sobs escaped me even though I didn't want them to. Maddie. My sister. Dead.

"This can't be happening."

"It is happening. You couldn't protect her from us. Now, she's ours."

"This can't be happening."

"Her soul will never see heaven. It will join us in hell forever."

"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! THIS ISN'T REAL!"

Sobbing, I couldn't block out the laughter that grew to the point it hurt my ears.

"Stop!" I screamed.

It continued.

"Dante." A familiar voice called out.

I shook my head. I couldn't do anything besides be a fucking coward.

"Dante, wake up."

Wait...am...I asleep?

"Dante, you need to wake up."

**End Dream**

Groaning, I sat up. The darkness of my room caused relief. Of course, the whole damn thing has been a dream. I ran a hand through my hair. What a relief. That's when the feeling of being watched caused me to turn my head only to meet two blood red eyes glowing in the darkness. I jumped.

"The fuck?!"

Itachi Uchiha stood there staring down at me as I caught myself before stupidly attacking him. I took in a deep breath.

"What the hell are you standing there in the darkness?" I yelled at him, "I thought you were a damn monster or something."

He remained emotionless like the block of ice he is. I don't think it crossed his mind that people don't have magical glowing red eyes. Damn, I thought for sure that he was one of those demonic Akatsuki from my dream.

"There is someone at the door." he finally spoke, "Leader ordered me to wake you up."

"Huh?"

That's when I heard it. The faint sounds of someone knocking on the door. My eyes went to the alarm clock on my side table. It read '4:12 a.m'. Groaning, I buried my head into my pillow in order to cover the fact that I am cursing. The Uchiha is used to it, but I sure as hell am not going to let him think I'm just as bad as that damn Hidan. Once I stopped, I tried to get out of bed only to trip from my blanket. My face hit the floor as pain woke me up completely.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"

Getting to my feet, I kicked the blanket all the way across the room before storming out. Itachi followed, but I didn't give a damn. Muttering curses, I went down the hall into the kitchen/dining/living room then up to the front door. In quick movement, I yanked it open. A seeping wet figure standing there on the porch caused me to frown.

"Hey Dante." Mal smiled.

My best friend. It just had to be him. Just like always, he has the worst timing on the face of the planet.

"Mal." I grumbled, "What the hell?"

"Sorry." he bowed his head, "My dad got drunk again. I barely escaped, but I don't have a place to crash. It's raining."

Indeed, it's pouring hard outside. Sighing, I grabbed hold of his soaking wet red shirt then pulled him inside the house without a second thought. Pushing him to the side, I shut the door still grumbling curses about 'floors being asses' and 'stupid glowing red eyes'.

"Oh hey, you already have people over?" Mal said, "Did you have a party without me? How could you Dante? I thought we agreed that if you had a party that ended with your grandpa finding out then killing you, you would at least invite me. We're partners in crime!"

"Huh?"

I remembered the Akatsuki, currently sitting around staring at us like we're dumb asses.

"Uh, Mal..."

"Whoa, is that Venus Flytrap made out of paper or plastic?"

"Mal."

"What kind of blue paint did you use to make your skin look so real?"

"Mal."

"Where did you get your contacts? I want a pair."

"MALCOLM SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR A SECOND!"

He shrunk a little before looking at me with his sky blue orbs.

"I should have told you that I have some...guests living here for a while." I sighed, "Mal, these people came from another world where ninjas exist. Whatever you do, don't do anything stupid. Don't say anything stupid. Don't even talk about anything ninja related. You'll end up getting your sorry ass killed."

"Okay."

His smile reappeared.

"Could I get a change of clothes?" he asked, "I didn't bring extra clothes."

I scanned my best friend to find that he is leaving a puddle of water on the carpet. My right eye twitched.

"God damn it, Mal!"

"Sorry."

**(Time skip)**

Mal sat around comfortably in one of my Slipknot t-shirt with all nine members on it, a pair of black sweat pants that he left, and his still soaked red beanie with the black hemming on the bottom. His light brown hair still is wet, and it sure as hell didn't help that he had his hat on. Pein told him the rules after I begged him to let Mal live. Now, we're in the same boat.

"So, what's your guys' names?" Mal asked, "Never got it."

The Akatsuki stared at him. After a while of silence, Pein nodded at them.

"My name is Pein. However, you are to call me, Leader or Pein-Sama."

"Hello, my name is Konan."

"The name is Sasori."

"I'm Deidara."

"My name is Kisame Hoshigaki."

"Itachi Uchiha."

"My name is Kakuzu."

"My fucking name is Hidan, bitch."

"Tobi's name is Tobi. Tobi is a good boy."

"**My name **is Zetsu."

Thankfully, Mal is not a Naruto fan. He tried to get into it, but never got far. He hears me speak of the Akatsuki from time to time. I hoped that he wouldn't point that out like a dumb ass, or we're both screwed.

"Are you guys Japanese or something?"

Face palming, I shook my head. Thank god, he doesn't know who the hell the Akatsuki are.

"Mal, they're from another world." I told him, "It's normal to have names like those."

"You're telling me that it's normal for parents to name their child 'weasel'?" Mal laughed.

Staring at him, it took five seconds before we're on the floor laughing.

"Mal, you're an ass."

"I know!"

I could just picture Itachi's parents just standing around a baby Itachi then deciding to name him 'weasel' because he had one, and they wanted everyone to know.

"I can't...I can't breath!"

"Stop laughing...zzzz..."

"Mal?"

Snoring caused me to sit up to find him asleep.

"The hell did that bitch fall asleep?"

Hidan's voice reminded me of the Akatsuki.

"He falls asleep when he gets excited." I explained, "He's out for a while. Don't know how fucking long it's going to be, but I'm going to bed. If you need me, you know where to find me."

No one argued so I headed down the hall then back into my room.

**(Mal's POV) Two hours later**

Sitting up, I glanced around the room. It's dark, but I think I'm in Dante's house. He's not in the room so it's hard to tell if I am or not.

"It's about time you woke up."

I jumped fifty feet in the air before whipping around to see a red haired male wearing a black jacket with red clouds on it. He stared at me with bored looking brown eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" I croaked, "How long have you been standing there?"

"My name is Sasori of the Red Sand." he said, "I've been waiting for you to wake up for the last two hours."

"Two hour? I've been out for another two hours? That's not good."

Jumping to my feet, I stretched. My eyes went to the grandfather clock sitting in the corner of the room. It read '6:34 a.m.' Yep, it's been about two hours since I fell asleep.

"Where's Dante?"

"He's asleep like everyone else."

Oh yeah, there's other people here. I forgot about that. From what Dante told me, the people are from another world. I don't believe that shit, but I'm just rolling with it. What was the red haired guy's name again? Something with an 'S'. Satori? Saori? Sai?

"Uh...what's your name again?"

He glared at me.

"Sasori."

"Oh yeah. I'm not going to remember that. I'm bad with names."

He continued to glare.

"Could I just call you 'S' or something?"

"No."

"Okay, when I have to continue to ask you your name, don't get irritated with me."

"It's Sasori. Remember it or don't try to speak to me."

"Harsh, man. I'm just trying to warn you ahead of time."

I turned then headed into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Getting something to eat." I answered, "I'm starving!"

Reaching behind the fridge, I turned the light switch on. The bright light hurt my eyes as I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Damn that's bright." I muttered.

I reopened them slowly as they adapted to the brightness. Once that's done, I start to raid the fridge for something. My smile grew when I saw some leftover meatloaf.

"Hell yeah, Mrs. Doe's famous meatloaf!"

Shutting the door, I place the plastic container on the counter then fished through the drawers for a fork.

"Do you always do this?"

I flinched. Damn, I forgot that one red haired guy is here. I turned to see him standing a couple feet away.

"Doing what? Look through the fridge then eat whatever I want?"

"Yes."

"Yeah I do. I earned the right, man. I just ran more than three miles here through the freezing rain while my drunk dad chased me down in his truck."

I got a strange look from him. It's better than the glare.

"How do you know Dante?" I asked.

"That's none of your business."

"Okay? Are you crashing here for a while with those other people?"

"Yes."

"Okay, man. The name is Mal. I'm Dante's partner in..."

"I know."

Geez, he could have at least waited for me to finish. Oh well, I opened the container then started to wolf down the meatloaf even though it's cold as hell. It doesn't matter as long as I can eat it. The taste of the BBQ Sauce hit my mouth first. It's so delicious.

"Already helping yourself to some food without me?"

Glancing up from the meatloaf, I saw Dante stroll in. He's wearing a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt. I laughed when I saw his hair all messed up, but then I started to choke on the meatloaf that I failed to swallow.

"Mal."

A slap to the back caused it to head down. I coughed while trying to hold down the laughter that wanted to mix with Dante's.

"You should take smaller bites."

"I know, man."

Laughing a little more, I took the last bite of the remaining meatloaf then grabbed the container.

"Think I can make it to the sink from here?"

"Hell no. Just walk there and stop being a lazy ass."

"I'm taking the shot."

"Mal, no."

I lifted the container over my head before chucking it. It soar through the air, hit the window, then stopped an inch short of the sink.

"So close!"

I crossed the room. Knocking the container into the sink, I felt the soapy water splash a little on me.

"Dude," I muttered, "We have a concert today."

"What?"

"We have a concert today."

"Mal, I can't fucking hear you. Speak the hell up!"

"Damn it Dante, we have a concert today!"

"That's better!"

I rolled my eyes.

"What time is it again?"

"It's at noon, but we need to get our asses there by 11:30. Mr. Cooey will unleash hell on earth if we don't."

I chuckled.

"Mr. Kibler is still scarier."

"Any band director besides Mr. Laux is scary as hell when they're pissed off."

"Yeah, man."

"Did you leave your trumpet at school?"

"Hell yeah, man! I don't feel like carrying it around with me. My dad might kick the shit out of it, and it's a school loaned."

"This is why it's a hell of a lot better to be a damn percussionist."

"No it isn't! Trumpet is where it's at, man."

Spinning around, I flinched at the sight of more people in those black jackets with the red clouds on them.

"Dante, seriously man, tell your friends not to sneak up on me." I mused.

He turned around before flinching as well.

"The hell?!" he yelled, "How fucking long have you been watching?"

If these people keep sneaking by this is going to be fun. They're all ninja-like. That's going to come in handy when we play flashlight tag at night.

"What is this 'concert' that you two were speaking of?" the ginger haired male spoke.

"The band concert?" I replied, "Well, our band is really large so they split us into three different bands when marching band hits. Dante and I got our asses landed in what is known as 'B' band. Since we're in 'B' band, we get to play our concert today. A lot is riding on it since we get scored by three judges. This year, we're hoping to get a '1'. It's the best that you can get."

Their eyes went to Dante.

"It's something that we have to do." he added, "If we don't then we'll get into huge trouble. Besides, people will get suspicious if we don't show up."

Why is Dante explaining that?

"You can go." the ginger stated, "But Konan, Sasori, Deidara, and Itachi will watch over you two to ensure you don't betray us. If they so much as sense that you are causing us trouble, they'll kill the both of you."

"Whoa." I muttered, "Dante, what kind of shit did you get your ass into? Is this a damn gang?"

"They're ninjas." Dante sighed, "But yeah, they're like a gang."

"Aw."

"Yeah, welcome to hell."

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><p><strong>Here's the end of the chapter. Please review. It helps.<br>**


	4. The Concert Scene Is Murderous

**Hey everyone, I know that it has been a super long time since I last posted a chapter for this story, but I have been suffering from writer's block. It's no big deal since I suffer from it for certain stories every once and a while. Anyways, I should mention that I have started to write the novel version of Sweet Dreams. What that means is that I don't have the Akatsuki in it. There are many differences, but the same characters are in it. Mal Baitman, Layne Wheeler, and both Dante and Maddie Doe are used in my novel. It should be cool when it's done since it involves the supernatural. I even added a new character in the novel version that may or may not show up in the Fanfiction. It is up to you readers if I end up using him or not. I'll add some information, but he's going to be human in the Fanfiction version since I don't think making him a Naga (half snake/half human) is a smart idea.**

_**Info:**_

**Name: **Parker Anthony

**Age: **16

**Height: **5' 8"

**Weight: **134 lbs

**Hair: **Jet black (parted/the right side is much longer than the left side), red and green (**_DYED_ **his long bangs red with a bit of green)

**Eye Color: **dark gray** (just for this version)**

**Personality: **Well-mannered** (it's a weakness since he can't help holding a door even when he has somewhere to go and there is a huge line of people), **

innocent/ignorance** (Dante or Mal have to explain things to him sometimes. An example is that he didn't know that "flipping the bird" means to flip someone off, and Dante had to explain that to him. However, Parker didn't understand that either XD),**

quiet** (sometimes people forget that he is even there),**

easily gets lost in thoughts** (another reason that people forget that he even there), **

intelligent** (loves to learn new things, but isn't a genius), **

respectful** (ties in with the well-mannered thing),**

lonely** (needless to say),**

and a push over** (can't say "no" to people)**

**Best friends: **Dante Doe and Mal Baitman

**Likes: **the genre of Rock, learning new things, reading, taking naps, eggs (mostly hard-boiled), people watching (as creepy as that sounds), daydreaming, and hanging with Dante and Mal

**Dislikes: **Stress eating, the genre of rap, snow, the cold, blazing heat, people that pick on others, reality shows, football (plays it), being forced into things (forced into football by his dad), his older sisters, and the preppy kids.

**There's some information behind Parker. Now, it is up to you readers if he gets added to the series or not. That's right, I am giving you a choice to add another male character to the series. If he is added then he will end up being a main character as well. So, the choice is all on you guys. No pressure. XD**

* * *

><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

I fixed my bowtie for the fifth fucking time. It feels like it is tightening around my throat, but I can't fix it so that it doesn't. My eyes went to Mal, who seems to have trouble putting his pants on. He is bouncing up and down as he tries to place his left leg in. I rolled my eyes.

"Do you need help Mal?" I asked.

"No man, I've got this!" he answered.

The Akatsuki members just watch the both of us. Hidan, Deidara, and Kisame are laughing at Mal, but I don't think Mal noticed. He's too focused on getting his pants on. At this point, this shit is actual amusing.

"I did it!" Mal cheered.

He managed to put his leg in, and now was attempting the other leg. A smirk appeared as he easily did it. That's when I noticed something.

"They're on backwards." I said.

"What?"

He glanced down. The zipper, which was on the back, faced me as he spun around wildly.

"Are you kidding me?!" he shouted, "These pants are stupid! I hate them!"

"I know." I chuckled, "You might want to fix that."

"You know what, man?"

"What?"

"I am going to rebel and wear my pants on backwards! Screw wearing pants the right way for a concert! It's not like anyone is going to see if they're on right or not."

"Mr. Cooey is going to sense it and kill you."

"I don't care at this point, man. He should be lucky that I am even wearing the right pants this time."

I shook my head. He's right. Last time, he wore dark blue dress pants instead of the normal black ones. When Mr. Cooey found out, he forced Mal to take the trade spots with Jovan in order to ensure that no one saw that he was wearing the wrong pants. That shit failed since everyone saw him still. It's hard to hide when bright lights shine down on you.

"Let's go!"

"Wait a second Mal."

"Aw, what now?"

"We have the problem of transportation with the Akatsuki members."

"Who?"

"The ninjas that have enslaved your sorry ass."

"There's no ninjas that are enslaving my ass."

"Mal, the people standing in the same fucking black and red cloaks!"

"Oh, I forgot about them."

"How do you forget? They just threatened to kill us ten minutes ago."

"Oh yeah."

The laughter continues to grow from the three emotion expressing Akatsuki members. I rolled my eyes again and turned to Pein.

"Let's get this shit over with." I sighed.

He doesn't say anything. I figure it's for the best that he doesn't say a single word.

"Are we taking your car?" Mal asked.

My eyes went to him.

"Yeah." I answered.

"How are we all going to fit in there?"

"What is this car that you two are talking about?"

Looking back at Pein, I met his gaze.

"You don't know what a car is?"

"No Mal. How the hell would the Akatsuki know what a car is? They're from another world."

"They are?"

"Yeah, I told you that when you first showed up."

"I thought you were joking."

Opening my mouth, I shut it. It's pointless arguing with him. He won't remember the Akatsuki until a few days have passed. It's takes time for him to remember anything. He easily forgets it.

"Anyways, a car is what we use in this world for transportation." I explained to Pein, "It's the way that Mal and I plan on using to get to the concert."

He eyed me curiously.

"Is it safe?" he inquired.

"Only if you don't smash into anything." Mal replied.

"We are not taking a car."

Gritting my teeth, I clenched my fist before glaring at him.

"Mal, why the hell did you have to tell them that?"

"I was just being honest."

"Well, we'll never get there in time if we walk."

"Why don't we just use the car. The ninjas can magically teleport to the school, right?"

"They don't know where the hell the school is."

"So? Couldn't they follow us?"

"They...yeah, they could follow us."

"And I win this round of argument, man!"

Without another word, Mal went out the back door. I sighed and followed after him. The Akatsuki all came out behind me. We couldn't let the members be seen by anyone that happened to pass by, even if I did have a long driveway. My backyward isn't that large, but it's big enough for all of us to talk.

"You think you guys can follow us?" I asked.

"Are you joking?" Kisame mused, "We could outrun the two of you without breaking a sweat."

"I'm talking about a car smartass."

"Like I said, without breaking a sweat."

Yeah, I am not going to break the news to him. A car is probably faster than they could travel through trees.

"Are these what trees look like in this world?" Sasori spoke.

I glanced over at the tall pine trees surrounding the woods behind the house.

"Yeah."

"Some are larger, but that's in Canada."

"Why do you ask?"

More laughter causes us both to flinch.

"Those are some sorry ass looking trees." Hidan said.

"What?" Mal frowned, "Are you serious, dude? I couldn't even climb that tree even I wanted to. It's bigger than the house!"

"You're a weak ass bitch. I could climb that damn tree with my eyes closed."

Wait, the trees in the anime are much larger than the trees in the real world. I have to remember that shit.

"I like to see you try."

"I will, bitch."

"Go ahead."

Hidan raced at the tree before anyone could tell him to stop. His feet touched the bark. To my surprise, he managed to run up the tree...until he decided to stop on a branch in the middle. A snap filled the air, and Hidan fell to the ground with a loud thud. He cursed loudly. Mal and I, we laughed at him.

"Serves you right, man. I knew you couldn't climb the whole tree."

"I like to see you do better, bitch."

"Oh, I can."

"Mal, we have to go. We have a concert, remember?"

"Aw!"

"I know, I know. It sucks ass. We can talk about how much it sucks later. We have to go now!"

He didn't protest. Looks like something is finally going my way today.

**[Time Skip]**

My foot faintly pushed down on the brake pedal as the car came to a slow halt. I continued to press down on it as my eyes stared up at the red light floating above the intersection leading into the parking lot of the middle school.

"They're still following us." Mal whispered.

I glanced over to the side in time to see Deidara skillfully rush behind a small pine tree. It's impressive to actually watch them pull this shit off.

"Yeah."

"Oh, the light is green!"

My foot let up on the brake pedal causing the car to lurch forward. Pressing extremely lightly on the gas, I feel the car speed up. The middle school parking lot is tiny, and it's filled with cars belonging to the other kids that managed to achieve being in 'B' band with us. I sighed as I pulled into a spot between a red truck and a tiny green car. It seemed good enough.

"Remember where we parked." I told Mal, "And we have to leave as soon as this is over. Whatever you do, don't be a dumbass and speak about the Akatsuki. Don't point them out to anyone. Don't try to look for them in the crowd. We are being watched by them at all times. They will kill the both of us if we screw this shit up!"

Mal's blue eyes widened.

"They were not joking when they said that they will murder us." I added, "Don't give them a reason to harm us because they will likely kill everyone in the audience as well. Do you want innocent people to die?"

"Hell no."

"Don't give them a reason."

Without warning, Mal slumped over against the dashboard.

"Mal?"

"Zzz..."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

I unclicked my seat belt and went out the car. Immediately, the four Akatsuki members watching over us appeared. While they no longer wore their cloaks, they didn't look like they fit in. The clothes under their cloaks aren't normal either.

"Mal fell asleep." I stated, "Can someone help me carry him inside?"

Itachi didn't say anything as he went to the other side, opened the door, and pulled Mal out. He threw my best friend over his shoulder.

"Or, you can carry him." I muttered.

"Does your friend always fall asleep at random moments?" Konan asked.

"Yeah, he suffers from Narcolepsy. It mostly happens when he gets freaks the hell out."

"What was he freaking out about?"

"Probably the concert."

It's safer to lie to them about what happened in the car. I don't want them to know that it was my fault. Not that I cared what they thought. It's just safer that I didn't warn Mal about the dangers of what were to happen if we blurted out that the Akatsuki could end up killing everyone including us.

"Okay, we should head inside."

Placing my hands in my pockets, which was possibly the only good thing about these pants, I walk towards the school. The Akatsuki members followed after me. The minute I walked through the door, I found myself face to face with the one and only Mr. Cooey.

"Dante hurry up." he said.

His bright blue orbs narrowed as he frantically motioned to the band room doors that just happened to be right there. I sighed. This is going to be annoying as hell.

"Whoa, wait right there." Mr. Cooey shouted, "You're not allowed to go in there unless you are a band member!"

I flinched. Please don't be talking to the Akatsuki members. Please don't be talking to the Akatsuki members. Please don't-...

"We are with him." Sasori stated.

I turn around to see that Mr. Cooey is in fact, speaking to the Akatsuki members. This is great! Just fucking perfect! If he continues to get in their way then I am certain that they are going to kill him. If that happens then they'll end up having to kill everyone here.

"Uh...Mr. Cooey," I spoke, "This is my cousin... Hideo and his friends."

I pointed at Itachi just hoping this shit actually works out.

"They come from Japan." I added, "Since they came from Japan, I was given the job of looking over them. Can they please come with me into the band room? At least, let Hideo come in. He's carrying Mal."

Mr. Cooey stared at me for a moment. Maybe, I shouldn't have used the name of the Japanese voice actor for Itachi as his fake name. However, this shit happened so quickly that I couldn't come up with another name. It had to be a Japanese name since I am certain that they are more accustomed to the traditions of Japan anyways.

"Fine, they can go in with you Dante." he sighed, "Just make sure that your cousin and his friends do not get in our way."

Thank God! I never thought that I would be so relieved to hear one of my lies work.

"Hurry up, Dante. Get in there and get ready. We don't have much time left. Oh, wake Mal up. He needs to be playing or we're leaving him in the band room again."

"Okay."

**Elsewhere (Maddie's POV)**

"Layne! Layne! Layne! Layne! Layne! Layne!"

"For the love of God, what?!"

"Hi!"

Two greenish gold eyes glared daggers at me before laughter echoed throughout the room. Layne just continued to laugh while I sat there with a smile plastered on my face.

"You're such a dork."

"Yep!"

"Should we call Dante?"

"Why?"

"He's fun to annoy."

"Yep."

"Want to watch TV?"

"Naruto!"

"Noooooooooo!"

"Aw."

I pouted.

"Can we watch something else for once? Maybe something that starts with a 'K' and ends with a 'L'."

"What?"

"Kill la Kill!"

"Oh. Yep!"

**Lake Middle School Band Room (Dante's POV)**

"How long was I out, man?"

As we stood in the bathroom, I gripped the back of Mal's jacket. His eyes lazily looked up at me.

"Out long enough to leave me with the trouble of lying to Mr. Cooey."

"Oh sorry, man."

"It's fine."

"Why are we in the bathroom?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Why am I wet?"

A puddle of water formed underneath him as I released his jacket. I turned to see Sasori, Deidara, and Itachi. They stood a couple feet away with Deidara being the only one that looks amused.

"He put your head under the sink." Deidara chuckled.

"What?" Mal whined, "Dante, what the hell, man?! I'm going to be wet the whole concert."

"Sorry Mal, but you weren't waking up." I replied, "If you didn't then I was going to have to leave you in the band room."

"Aw."

"Yeah."

"Where's my trumpet?"

I rolled my eyes once again.

"It's where you last put it."

"Oh, it's in the band room."

He lifted his hand in a fist before smirking.

"To the band room!"

"Let's just get this over with."

**[...]**

"Okay, now that everyone is here we can begin with warm-ups."

My hands gripped my mallets as Mr. Cooey raised his hands up. His mouth opened as he pretended to count words. Immediately, his hands started to sway causing me to bring my mallets down in order to play the scale on the Xylophone. Each made a different yet lovely note with every passing beat. I nodded my head while silently humming the note. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Done.

"Everyone play your concert 'F'. Starting with the Tubas and working our way up."

My eyes went to Mal, who was sitting a couple feet away in the trumpet section. He glanced over at me before he flashed a smile. I smiled back, but quickly looked over at the Akatsuki members that lingered behind me. It felt like they were waiting for either Mal or me to screw up so they can kill our sorry asses. No, they weren't looking to kill us. They just want to make sure we don't give them away.

"Mallets!"

I flinch before repeatedly hitting my note. My eyes locked onto Mr. Cooey as I finally saw him close his fingertips together thus ending all sound.

"Okay, we're running a little behind. Percussionists start heading over."

Turning to the right, I began heading for the door. In the corner of my eye, I saw Itachi and Konan following suit. Part of me wished that Sasori would have come, but I guess it's a good thing. I stopped next to the door until Itachi and Konan caught up, and then I went on.

"This concert of yours, how long is it?" Konan asked.

"It should be about half an hour, maybe more, maybe less." I answered, "It depends on the judges."

"Judges?"

"Yeah, every year people judge our music to see if we're any good or not. It's bullshit if you asked me, but every year 'B' band gets a number '2' rating."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not really, but we work so hard to try to get a '1', which is the best. All the other bands ALWAYS get '1's'. I don't know how."

I sighed before I stretched slightly.

"I hate this shit."

"If you hate it then why are you doing it?"

"Because I love marching band season. Concert band, not so much. It's boring, takes forever, and we get worked to the bone."

The tunnel that splits the middle school from the high school stood in front of us now. I smirked while the memories of the people that bullied the hell out of Mal and me when we were in middle school resurfaced. I remembered I used to get into so much trouble all because I kicked their asses every time they went after Mal. Those times are over with now. People changed once high school hit. However, those assholes never bothered to be nice to me ever since it came out that I was bi-sexual. People judge you for the way you love. It's messed up, but then again, this whole fucking school is messed up.

"So, are you guys liking this world?"

The question rolled off my tongue even though it probably shouldn't have.

"We haven't experienced much of it."

"I know. I'm just asking now because you'll end up hating it by the time you leave. I won't go into details since you'll have to learn the damn hard way."

My smirk grew.

"This concert is going to be the longest concert ever."

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><p><strong>This is where we are going to end for now. Next chapter, Maddie and Layne will make an official appearance. Please reviewvote if you all want Parker Anthony to come into the story or not.**

**Thank you and have a nice day :3**


	5. Layne and Maddie

**It's finally here! The chapter that will bring forth Maddie and Layne for the first time! I know that I mentioned it last chapter, but now that I have gotten this far, I cannot wait to let you all meet them! As for the other character, Parker Anthony, I decided that I will let him join in the series after all. I know that I asked for all your opinions. However, it wouldn't be the Sweet Dreams series without my favorite socially awkward Parker. He's part of the gang, and you can't just take him away. It would be poor writing on my half. Besides, I think you'll all like him because I plan on writing his entrance to be a comedy relief of a kind. I won't spoil it because that wouldn't be right since that is also poor writing. For now, we will continue on with this chapter.**

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><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

We gathered around the board. Crowding and pushing one another, we took only a single glance at the sheet of paper. My eyes widened in disbelief. I stood there unable to process the number on the paper. Someone tugged on my arm, but I ignored them. My rage is growing inside me. My mouth opens about ready to let out the worst words that could possibly come to mind. However, someone literally yanks me away. I couldn't stop myself from being led out the cafeteria then into the hallway that goes back to the middle school. I realized that it's Itachi that is dragging me away. Narrowing my eyes, I rip my arm out of his grasp causing him to stop before looking at me as damn emotionless as ever.

"Don't you dare fucking touch me!" I growled.

My head turned back to see the other Akatsuki members and Mal joining us.

"What was the number?" Mal asked, "I couldn't see it, man."

"We got another 2!" I answered.

"What? Again?!"

"Yeah!"

"Dude, this whole thing is rigged! It has to be! There is no other reasonable explanation why we are one of the only bands to get 2's every year!"

"You're telling me."

"Uh, Dante I forgot to grab my trumpet. Could we go back for it?"

"Are you shitting me?"

"No."

"Looks like we have to go back."

** (Layne's POV)**

"I can't wait to see the look on Dante's and Mal's faces when they see us." I said.

"Yeah!" Maddie replied.

We stepped into the long hallway that led into the Performing Arts Hall. People were crowded all around. I recognized absolutely no one. Must be the parents of kids from another band.

"Where's Dante?" Maddie asked.

I glanced over to see her looking back at me with her jade green orbs and a pout on her face. If anyone looked like a female version of Dante, it would be Maddie. The only thing that I could think of that was different between the two is their personalities, taste, and the fact Maddie isn't grumpy.

"I don't know." I answered, "When do they perform?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yeah."

"But you said that you knew."

"I did?"

"Yeah!"

"Oops, sorry."

Sighing, I continued to push my way through the crowd down the hallway. Maybe if we're lucky, some other band kid that we actually knew would be here.

"Dante!" Maddie exclaimed.

I jumped slightly before looking up to see both the Doe scolding Mal while walking up the hallway. Neither of them noticed us, but it's better that way.

"Itachi!"

Maddie pointed wildly towards her brother as I tensed up. Behind Dante and Mal were four figures that looked like they were cosplaying Sasori, Itachi Uchiha, Konan, and Deidara from the Akatsuki. I don't know why they were here, but I don't want to go rushing up to them. However, Maddie had another idea. She began running towards her brother. I flinched.

"Maddie wait!" I said.

She froze in her tracks and glanced back at me.

"Why don't we play a game?" I asked.

Her eyes lit up just as I knew they would. I could always count on getting her attention by mentioning that single word.

"What kind of game?"

"Who can better act like Dante Doe."

"How do you play that?"

"You try to be anti-social and stay away from Dante while acting grumpy as hell."

"Oh."

"Let's start!"

"Yeah!"

Immediately, she grabbed my hand before pulling me into another hallway that connected to the band room.

"Stay here." she ordered in a dark and emotionless tone.

Maddie calmly walked down the hallway towards the band room. I waited until she was a couple feet away before cracking up. She was taking this seriously. Oh well, I knew she would. Taking out my phone, I dialed Dante's number and put it up to my ear. It ringed a total of four times before I heard someone pick the phone up.

"Hello?"

"Dante why the hell are a bunch of cosplayers with you?"

"Layne?"

"Yeah."

"How the fuck do you know? Are you here? Is Maddie with you?"

In the background, I could hear murmurs from both Mal and someone else. I couldn't tell who.

"Yeah, we came to watch you perform." I stated.

"Get the hell out of here now!" he whispered, "Go to your house! We got ourselves in some deep shit! Don't ask."

"Oh my god, did you get involved with a group of intense Akatsuki cosplayers?!"

"Uh...no. It's much worse than that."

"Worse than that? What do you-...oh shit! Are those the real Akatsuki members?"

"Yes."

"How the hell did this happen?"

"I don't know. It just happened. Now, leave before they see you."

He hung up, leaving me just standing in my spot. The real Akatsuki? How the hell did the real Akatsuki members manage to get into the real world? Is he lying to me? Yeah, he has to be. There's no way that the Akatsuki are real. Well, I think that we should meet these cosplayers.

**(Maddie's POV)**

The school hallways surround me. They blur with crowds of people going into and out of rooms. Spinning in my spot, I glanced around. It's boring pretending to be Dante. I love him since he's my brother, but I find it boring to act like him. So, I gave up the game the minute that I entered the high school. Hmm, where is Layne? Wasn't she with me just a moment ago? I guess I lost her somewhere inside the school. Turning, I didn't see her. Should I look for her? Probably. However, I need something sweet. It will help me think of where I left her. There's candy in the lunchroom. Smiling, I skipped around a few corners and soon found myself back in the PAH hallway, which had the lunchroom. My smile grew as I entered the lunchroom. Mass numbers of band kids were huddled around tables eating and talking to one another. My eyes went from left to right only to stop. Dante and Mal along with four cosplayers of Akatsuki members were standing in front of me with their backs to me.

"Is that your trumpet, Mal?"

"Yeah, man."

"Good, get it and let's go."

"What's with the rush? Is it that phone call?"

"Yes, we have to leave now."

"Why?"

I slowly snuck up behind my brother. With his back turned towards me, I could easily scare the crap out of him.

"That's not-..."

Dante turned and almost bumped into me. Our eyes met, but for some reason, he looked surprised and scared.

**(Dante's POV)**

Shit...shit...shit...shit...shit. I should have know that Maddie wouldn't listen to Layne. She probably told her that the real Itachi Uchiha is with us.

"Oh, hey Maddie!" Mal greeted her.

"Hi Mal! Dante!"

She flung herself at me. Her arms wrapped around my chest. At first, I couldn't do anything besides just stand there, but then, I decided to hug her back. If I didn't, it would hurt her feelings, and she'll cause a scene.

"Who is this?"

I flinched. Maddie let go of me before turning her attention to the Akatsuki members. My heart pounded in my chest. I mentally begged her not to do anything stupid that might get everyone here killed.

"Hi, I'm Madeline Doe." she mused, "But you can call me Maddie."

She waved her right hand wildly at them.

"I'm Dante's sister."

She used her left hand to grab my right arm and clutched it against her chest. My right eye twitched.

"Are you cosplayers? The Fakes? The-..."

"Maddie, why are you here?"

Tilting her head back, she gave me a pouty expression.

"I wanted to see you play."

"We played an hour ago."

"I missed it?"

"Yes."

"Aw, I'm sorry. I couldn't remember when it started."

"You need to leave."

"Why?"

"You have to dog sit."

"No, the family came back home earlier."

"Then spend the night at Layne's house."

"She's spending the night at our house."

"What?! Why?"

"I called mommy. She said grandpa is stuck in the hospital for another five days because of heart issues. She also said that Layne can spend the night."

"Heart issues? Did she tell you what kind?"

"Nope."

"I think I am going to call mom."

"Nnnnnnnnooooooo, I just want to go home."

"No Maddie."

"Why not?"

"You just can't."

I almost went on, but Mal decided to get involved.

"So, Layne is here as well?" he nervously laughed.

"Yes."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know. I lost her."

"You lost her?"

"Yep...by accident!"

Mal and I laughed. I couldn't believe that she single handedly lost her best friend in our school of all places.

"Should we look for her?" Mal asked.

"No, she'll find us sooner or later." I answered.

"Yeah, hopefully she didn't get herself into any trouble."

"Layne getting into trouble? Isn't she always getting herself into shit?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, I don't get into trouble all the time!"

As if on cue, Layne Wheeler, our favorite loud mouth brunette walked directly up to us. Her golden green eyes hid behind a pair of purple red glasses. Like every other day that I see her, she is wearing a dress. Today, it is her favorite plain black sleeveless dress with her black winter jacket over top and a pair of sandals that were falling apart terribly. She was much shorter than me with a medium build to her.

"Where the hell have you been?" I demanded.

"Looking for Maddie." she replied.

Layne eyed the four Akatsuki members that were towering next to me. I don't how the hell she managed it, but she looked completely emotionless.

"Guys, this is Layne Wheeler." I sighed, "She is Maddie's best friend and apparently she is spending the night at our house."

"Yay!" Maddie cheered.

{Time Skip}

"Are they the real Akatsuki members?"

"Yeah."

I peaked out the window of the car to make sure that the members are still following us. Of course, they kept up easily with the car. They hid among the trees and yards, but I could still see them.

"Okay before we reach the house, I need to lay some rules down." I said, "No one, and I mean NO ONE, is to mention the anime or manga Naruto to them. They have yet to know that they are fictional characters. I want to keep it that way because they will be less likely to kill us."

"Kill us? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, they made it perfectly clear that they will kill our sorry asses if we do anything that they don't like. So, if you are smart Layne, you won't be a smart ass towards any of the members. Even Hidan."

"Psst, when am I ever a smart ass?"

"Are you serious?"

"No."

She burst out laughing in the back of the seat.

"So, that's the real Itachi?" Maddie asked.

"Yeah." Mal answered, "Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah!"

"Isn't he your crush or something?"

"Yeah!"

My eye twitched. I swear to god that the minute we get Pein to agree to let my sister and Layne to live, I am going to make it clear that Itachi is not to touch Maddie. If he does, I'm ripping his arms off.

"Hey Dante can we get something to eat?" Mal whined, "I'm starving, man!"

"No, we have to get our asses back home." I replied, "Pein was clear that we just perform and then come home."

"Aw, but I'm hungry!"

"No, Mal. Do you want ninjas to kill you?"

"If it means I can get something to eat then yeah, man."

"What if I told you that I will make something to eat the minute we get home. Would that shut you up?"

"Yeah!"

The car pulled into the drive way. I smirked. For the first time in the last two days, it seemed almost normal with just the four of us. My smirk faded when I parked the car, and we were greeted by all ten Akatsuki members surrounding the car. I glanced back to see Maddie and Layne slowly sinking in a failing attempt to hide from the Akatsuki.

"Should we get out?" Mal whispered.

"If we don't they'll force us to." I sighed.

My hand reached for the door as I shoved it open. Getting out of the car, I turned to see that they remained inside.

"Come on, get out of the car. I promise that they won't bite if they know what's good for them."

Without warning, Maddie's door swung open as she practically hurled herself outside and struck a pose. Her right hand was lifted in the air with her index finger pointing towards the sky. All eyes were on my her. A smile spread on her face as she began singing the Pokemon theme song. I face palmed.

"Who is this?" Pein questioned.

Our eyes met.

"This is my younger sister Maddie. She decided to make a surprise appearance at the concert and now she's home. She also brought a friend. The other girl is Layne Wheeler. Can they stay alive?"

"They're your responsibility. You will have to explain the terms of our rules and what happens if they break them."

Of course, I knew that he would say that, but I'm happy that he didn't decide to kill Maddie. Layne and Mal finally came out of the car. They walked into the house leaving the Akatsuki alone with Maddie and me.

"Can I be a Pokemon?"

I flinched before looking down at my sister.

"Yeah, go run around and...defend the world or something."

"Yay!"

She started to run towards the road.

"No Maddie!" I shouted, "Play it in the backyard!"

Stopping in her tracks, she spun around.

"Want to play Dante?"

"No, I have something else to do."

"I want someone to play with."

"You can ask Layne."

A blur of orange caused me to tense as Tobi stood in front of Maddie. He looked like he was bouncing off the walls.

"Tobi wants to play!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah!"

"Tobi can play! You can be the trainer!"

"Yay! Tobi is the trainer!"

"Does anyone else want to play?"

They both turned towards us. I immediately stepped back.

"Deidara-Sempai! Play with us!"

The blonde winced.

"No! I refuse to play with you, un!"

Maddie sped up to him. He failed to realize that it was never a smart idea to say no to my sister. She has her ways to get anyone to do what she wants.

"Please?"

"No, un."

"Please? Please? Please?"

"No."

"Pretty, pretty please? It's Pokemon. We need five other people!"

"Ask someone else."

"Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty please?"

"Fine! I'll play your stupid game!"

"Yay!"

Her attention turn to the rest of us. I sighed. I knew where this was heading.

{Another Time Skip}

"Tobi calls on Deidara-Sempai!" Tobi shouted.

His fist was held high in the air as Deidara sighed. The blonde terrorist walked in front of Tobi.

"Kisame, I chose you!" Maddie smirked.

The shark man smirked as he stepped forward. This went from being Pokemon to it being sparring matches between whatever members the two "trainers" picked. I don't know why the fuck I was watching this dumb ass game. Maybe it was because I hope that Hidan would get his ass kicked by someone. That sounds about right.

"No more."

Pein's voice caused me to wince. I didn't even see him walk up right next to me.

"It is time that everyone gets inside the house."

No one bothered to argue with him. Not even Maddie. We all knew that Pein was not in the best of moods right now. I think he's sore because of the concert followed by the two unannounced guests.

"That was fun!" Maddie giggled.

She grabbed hold of my right arm and swung it as she dragged me towards our house.

"I want to play again tomorrow."

"Tobi wants to play again too!"

The idiot grabbed my other arm and copied what Maddie was doing. My right eye twitched as we headed inside.

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><p><strong>I guess this place is as good as any to stop this chapter. Please review, etc.<strong>


	6. Early Mornings

**Yo people of the Fanfiction world! It has been a while since I last posted anything for this chapter. For that, I must apologize. Things on my side have been rather interesting, stressful, and strange all at once. I know that we're only five chapters into the story, and you all don't know me very well so I won't get personal in what has been bugging me. I will say that I have been stressing over school work and the idea of deciding on college/career. TT^TT My parents bluntly told me that they do not approve of the idea of me becoming a writer because it means that I will have a hard time making money if my books don't sell. I guess they are right though. Looks like, I will have to go back to the dreaded "what am I going to do with my life" board that every high schooler endures. Oh well, I think I might as well write the next chapter in order to relieve stress. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.**

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><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

I couldn't sleep for shit, and it's annoying as hell. The worst part is that I don't know if it is due to the coffee that I am currently drinking or the Akatsuki members in my house. I sighed while typing away on my laptop in a failing attempt to get some damn homework done. I am beginning to hate English again. Between the black lettering and the white space below, I can't help feeling pissed. There is nothing good about the Frankenstein section! I not only have to read that shitty book, but I also have to write a five page essay on the rhetorical devices that Mary Shelley used. Mr. Freedline might as well have given this paper to a monkey because this shit is just not clicking for me. I had to look over and over again at the packet that is sitting next to me on the living room couch.

"Why are you still up?" A voice asked.

The voice startles me, but it doesn't take me long to figure out who it is.

"I need to get some work done for school." I answered, "How late is it?"

"It's almost one o'clock in the morning." Sasori replied.

"Is everyone else asleep?"

"Yes."

"I guess I should go to bed then."

Yawning, I set my laptop shut on the coffee table. Sasori is my savior from English papers. Now, if only he could magically burn the paper to hell then I would bow down before him. He stares at me annoyed. I don't think he likes me very much.

"Who's in my room this night?"

"Itachi."

I rolled my eyes.

"Who's idea was it to let that bastard in my room?"

"Leader's."

"Of course!"

"Do you not like Itachi?"

"Oh no. I don't hate Itachi. Where would you get that idea?"

"Why do you hate him?"

"Goodnight Sasori."

I turned and walked out of the kitchen/dining/living room area. Stumbling down the hall, I went into my room only to freeze in my spot. Itachi was sleeping in my fucking bed. I sucked in my breath. Looks like my mattress is burning tomorrow.

**(Maddie's POV)**

My eyes opened as I found the room completely dark. The air smells of rotting meat. It's cold in here. I feel like someone is watching me, and I'm scared. I try to find who it is, but I can't see them in this darkness. There's the sound of breathing in the room, and it doesn't belong to just Layne and Konan. I pulled myself out of bed then went down the hall into the next room over. I felt my way to Dante's bed. I crawled in and cuddled up close to him. Shutting my eyes, I went back to bed.

**(Dante's POV)**

Laughter woke me. I sat up to see Mal and Layne standing in front of me, blocking my view of my bed. From what I could see, they were taking pictures of something. Were they taking pictures of Itachi sleeping? Why the hell are they doing that? Layne has a huge crush on Deidara, and Mal has a crush on Zelda from the Legend of Zelda.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I yawned.

They turned to glance down at me. They just laugh before turning back. I got to my feet and looked over them both only to freeze in my tracks. Itachi, that asshole, was cuddling with Maddie. He was on his back with his arm underneath her head. Their legs were tangled, and Maddie was practically curled against his body. Both were sound asleep.

"What the hell?!" I shouted.

Itachi jerked awake. He shot me glare, not noticing my sister for a couple seconds. When he did, he flinched before pushing her off him, which made her fall off my bed. She hit the ground, but didn't wake up.

"You bastard!" I spat, "Why were you touching my sister?!"

Mal and Layne grabbed me by my arms and started dragging me out of the room. I just thrashed, and I shot glares at the Uchiha.

"You better watch yourself Uchiha or I will kick your sorry ass!"

"Dude calm down. You're threatening him!"

"I don't give a fuck!"

The duo dragged me down the hallway.

"Dante calm down." Layne said, "You're acting like a dumb ass. Stop picking a fight with him."

"I am calm!"

"Yeah, you're the picture perfect image of calm."

Sighing, I stopped struggling against them. They froze. After a while, they hesitantly let go.

"Don't pick a fight with them." Layne warned, "You know fully well that they can easily kill us anytime they want. Do you want that?"

"No."

"Then act responsible."

"Fine, I'm getting some coffee."

Spinning around, I shoved my hands in my jean pockets. Thank god, I slept in my jeans last night. They help mask my clenched fists.

**(Maddie's POV)**

"What was that all about, Itachi?"

Itachi? My eyes opened. I'm in Dante's room. Kisame, Pein, and Itachi are in the room. Itachi is on Dante's bed. He's not going to like that very much.

"The girl must have snuck into the room last night while I was asleep and found her way into the bed with me." Itachi explained, "I woke up to her curled up next to me."

Curled up? Snuck in? Itachi? I smiled. I got to cuddle with Itachi? I thought that I was cuddling with Dante. Wasn't that the reason I came in here last night? Yes. Why was Itachi in Dante's bed?

"Was that outburst done by Dante?" Pein asked.

"Yes, he jumped to his own conclusions." Itachi answered, "I assume that he thought I was making a move on the girl."

He looked down as our eyes met. I felt like my face was melting off. My heart wouldn't stop beating at a fast pace. My stomach spun around like a washing cycle.

"My name isn't girl." I stated, "I'm Maddie."

Before he could say anything else, I jumped to my feet and raced out of the room. I can't wait to tell Layne about this. I got to cuddle with Itachi!

**(Layne's POV)**

I took a sip of my coffee while taking secret glances at the blonde haired terrorist sitting in the chair across from me. He was focused on the TV screen where people in some kind of show were blowing up a bathtub or something. I wasn't really paying any attention to it. I was more focused on Deidara and the rest of the Akatsuki. Isn't it funny to think that the Akatsuki, my favorite badass villains from the Naruto series, are very much alive? I still can't believe it even though it's probably been almost a day. Can I get used to this? Yeah, I could get used to having them around. The only problem is that we didn't exactly get off on the right foot. The Akatsuki are probably going to kill me because I am such a smartass. If I survived it would probably be a miracle.

"Hey Layne."

Mal sat down next to me. He was wearing a Three Days Grace t-shirt, jeans, and his signature beanie. In his hands was coffee. I couldn't help yet laugh.

"Does Dante know that you are drinking coffee?" I asked.

"No." he answered quickly, "Don't tell him, man. He's already in a bad mood."

"Yeah."

"You know, it's kind of funny."

"What is?"

"We all run on coffee."

"Everyone besides the Akatsuki members."

"No, the Akatsuki members even run on it."

He pointed at Deidara and Kakuzu, who both had mugs in their hands.

"Yep, even the members are rocking the coffee mugs."

He raised it high, earning their attention.

"Cheers, man."

Neither did anything besides roll their eyes. I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Lifting my cup up, I banged it against his.

"Cheers, Mal."

"Thank you, Layne! You're awesome unlike some people that I know."

"Anytime."

You know, this is pretty relaxed for having multiple murderers in the household. I actually like it.

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><p><strong>Sorry, I know this chapter is kind of short, but I felt like it was much needed. Please review, etc.<strong>


	7. Hallucinations?

**Yo! I can't sleep, so I am writing to make up for my lack of ability to sleep. I know that I will probably get lectured later on by both my co-author and my best friend for not sleeping when it's almost midnight. Oh well, I had my sleeping patterns screwed up for almost five years now. I can't really fix it that well. I have been trying lately to change a few things in my life to help me feel better. Sleeping is one of those things. I don't usually take naps anymore, and I constantly go to bed around the same time each night. However, today I took a four hour nap. It was incredibly stupid of me, but I had a huge migraines that just wouldn't go away other wise. *sighs* I am sorry for ranting. I might as well get to the chapter. Hopefully, this helps make the plot move along because I have a huge plot twist that I am working towards.**

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><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

I let out a yawn. Three hours of sleep is not a good idea when you have to deal with assholes like Hidan and Tobi. The coffee doesn't do shit for me anymore. It's already my second cup, and I am about ready to fall over.

"Dante are you okay?"

Jerking awake, I looked up to see Layne peaking at me from across the counter inside the kitchen.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." I muttered.

"Why don't you take a nap?" she asked, "You look terrible."

"I'm fine." I answered, "Thanks."

"Hey, have you seen Maddie?"

"No."

My eyes traveled around the room. I silently counted the number of Akatsuki members in here. There weren't many of them in here. The only ones in the kitchen/dining/living room area were the emotional members like Hidan, Kisame, Deidara, and Tobi. Every other member was missing. That didn't make me feel any better.

"Where the hell did you last see her?"

"About ten minutes ago. She was following me. I guess she decided not to."

"Where is Uchiha?"

"With Pein, Konan, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Zetsu upstairs."

"Are they talking about something fucking serious?"

"How the hell would I know?"

"I don't know. You seemed to know what the hell is going down in my house."

"Not really."

I sighed. This is just what I need. Maddie is likely causing trouble. If she goes off telling the Akatsuki members all about the Naruto series, she is getting her ass kicked. I don't give a fuck if she understands what she did wrong or not, she doesn't need to cause shit.

"I am going to find Maddie." I said, "Could you make another pot of coffee?"

"No, you need to drink something other than coffee."

"Fine, whatever."

Getting to my feet, I left the kitchen/dining/living room area. The first floor was empty of life besides Mal, who was helping himself to some Super Smash Bros on my Wii. He let out a cry as he waved around the controler.

"Hey Mal."

He flinched. Immediately, his character plunged to his death.

"No!" Mal practically shouted, "Dude, I was kicking Kirby's ass! Why did you have to distract me?!"

"Have you seen Maddie?" I replied.

"No, I haven't seen her since she walked down the hallway. She mentioned something about seeing an "Itachi Uchiha." I don't know who that is, but I assume you do, man?"

"The fuck?! I knew she was with that bastard."

"Calm down, man. He's not trying to make a move on Maddie. He seems smart enough to know that you can rip his head off."

"This isn't about that, Mal. I think she's going to screw everything up."

"What are you talking about?"

I glanced back into the hall to see no one was around. Shutting the door, I leaned against it while crossing my arms.

"Remember what I told you back in the car when we came back from the concert? You know, the one about not mentioning Naruto to them?"

"Oh, yeah."

"I was being completely serious. They are from the series, and they're kind of the main villains of the whole series."

"Whoa, the main villains?"

"Yeah."

"That's so cool, man."

"Yeah, it's a little cool."

Smiling, I caught myself.

"Anyways, Maddie thinks this is a lot like a Fanfiction story. She's going to likely tell the Akatsuki about the series."

"Why would she do that?"

"Are you kidding me? Maddie lives in her own fucking world. She thinks like a little kid still. That's why we need to find her asap."

"Yeah, I'll help you out, man."

"No, you wait here just in case you see her pass by. I need to keep an eye on her."

"And her man."

"Mal, I'm going to punch you if you call him that again."

"Aw, don't do that, man. I'm only joking."

I rolled my eyes before opening the door. Maddie has to be here somewhere. Checking the rest of the rooms, I found that she's not on this floor. I sighed. If she is with the rest of the Akatsuki members, I'm going to be pissed. Heading up the stairs, I immediately heard the sounds of voices. I followed it to very first room on the left. The door was shut making the voices muffled. I almost opened the door, but I caught myself. It's not a good idea to barge into a room full of S-rank shinobi. They're likely to throw shit in an attempt to kill me because it's their reflexes kicking in. Knocking on the door, I heard the voices go quiet. After a couple seconds, the door opened a little to reveal Kakuzu. He glared down at me.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Is Maddie with you?"

He eyed me for a moment. I don't think that he remembered any of our names.

"My sister." I added.

He finally looked like he knew whom I was talking about.

"No, she isn't."

While I was relieved, I was also confused. Where the hell is my sister? I pushed my way into the room. All the members in the room looked at me emotionally. My sister isn't in the room. However, Itachi is here. That's good for me.

"Is something wrong?" Konan spoke.

I turned my attention to both her and Pein.

"Uh, I was wondering if any of you have seen my sister." I sighed, "I can't find her anywhere. I thought she might be in here with all of you."

"Are you saying that your sister has gone missing?" Pein frowned.

I tensed up. Oh shit. I probably shouldn't have told him that.

"No, she's in the house somewhere." I quickly replied, "I just don't know where. It's kind of important that we find her."

"Why?"

I can't tell them that she knows all about them, but I also don't think she would like if I told them that she has hallucinations. However, this is kind of a shitty situation.

"Don't tell her that I told you this, but Maddie kind of...suffers from a mental issue." I explained.

"What is this "mental issue" that your sister has?"

"Hallucinations, delusions, the works. It's kind of really bad with her. We try to keep it under wraps with medication, but she doesn't really like it."

The Akatsuki looked at me like I was an idiot.

"We need to find her soon, she has a habit of hurting herself by accident."

Silence was my response. It didn't look like I could count on any of them to help. Go figure, they're going to be assholes. I shoved my hands in my pockets then left the room. Footsteps behind caused me to glance back to find Konan and Itachi following after me.

"Where was the last place you saw her?" Konan asked.

"With Layne, but she's not with her anymore." I answered, "I don't think Maddie took her medication last night."

"What happens if she doesn't take her medication?"

"Her hallucination become more intense and shit. She gets scared and hides. Sometimes, I hear her say something about the "Fakes" following her everywhere. I don't know what that means, but I don't like it."

That wasn't the truth. I just couldn't tell them that Maddie suffers from hallucinations of the Akatsuki members, but she always refers to them as the "Fakes" because they have red cloaks with black clouds or something along those lines. She claims that they hurt her from time to time, and I worry that these hallucinations are the most dangerous for her. I bite my lip.

"We have to find her soon." I muttered.

We searched the whole second floor, but Maddie was nowhere to be found. I almost thought about looking downstairs again when I found the door leading up into the attic open. It's usually always shut and locked because it's dangerous up there. My eyes narrowed. Pulling the door opened, I went in front of the steps. The sound of Maddie's voice coming from the attic made me sigh.

"She's up here."

My head turned back to the two Akatsuki members as they joined me. We traveled up the old wooden steps. Each step creaked under our feet. I really thought that at any moment, we could all tumble to our deaths if they broke. I sucked in a breath while gripping the railing tightly. I finally made it to the top, and I looked around the barely lit attic. My eyes stopped on Maddie, who was sitting on the floor with her back to me. She's wearing one of my t-shirts and dark purple short shorts. Her long black hair was in a messy bun.

"Maddie, what the hell are you doing up here?" I growled.

Her head whipped around as she stared at me in surprise. I stormed across the attic towards her.

"You're not supposed to be up here." I stated, "It's too dangerous up here."

She glanced around. I turned to see Itachi and Konan standing close behind me.

"Oh, you found your cloak."

Her smile grew as I realized that she was talking to Itachi. Shooting the Uchiha a glare, I gently forced Maddie to stand up. I then noticed something on her arms. My fingers brushed over finger shaped bruises.

"Maddie-...?" I started.

"Bye!"

She rushed out of the attic before I could say anything. I just stood in place for a moment before turning my attention to Itachi.

"What the fuck did you do?"

He looked at me emotionlessly.

"What the hell was she talking about?"

"I don't know."

"Did you touch her?"

"No."

"I swear to god Itachi, I am going to kick your ass the next time you decide to touch her again. I can stand you bastards controlling my house, but the minute that you harm my family and friends, I will put my fucking foot down. You got that?"

"I did not touch your sister."

"That's bullshit. There are bruises on her arms."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"It looks like someone grabbed her roughly."

"Calm down. I promise that I did nothing to your little sister."

"You better not have!"

Shoving my way passed them, I stomped down the steps.

**(Maddie's POV)**

My body trembled. It was a close call. I rubbed the bruises that "he" left behind. Dante saw them. Now, he's going to blame the wrong person. He doesn't know or understand. As I shut the door, I froze as I felt someone right behind me.

"We didn't finish our conversation."

I couldn't stop my body from trembling. He's back.

"I'm sorry." I replied weakly, "Dante didn't know."

I didn't turn to face him.

"Please don't get angry." I begged, "He doesn't know."

"He saw your bruises."

"I know, but that wasn't my-..."

"Sit down."

A hand roughly shoved me towards my bed. I don't even bother to fight him. I just sit down on the edge. He follows suit and sits next to me. I don't want to sit next to him, but I don't dare move. He doesn't like when I scoot away from him. I look over at him. His red eyes meet mine. A smile spread on his lips.

"Do you like these so-called "Akatsuki" that are now living here?" he asked.

I watched him. I don't know what to say. My heart is hammering in my chest, and it's uncomfortable.

"I have to go." I answered.

Jumping up, I left the room. I couldn't deal with him. Not now.

**(Dante's POV)**

My hands clenched the mug in my hands as I continued to glare at Itachi from the counter. He just stared back. I don't trust him. He obviously did something to Maddie.

"Hey Dante."

Shifting my attention, I looked at Layne.

"My mom wants to pick me up in two hours." she said, "Am I free to leave?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask Pein." I replied.

I didn't mean to sound like I was snapping at her, but the look she gave me back made me realize it came off that way. I almost apologized when Maddie came running into the kitchen/dining/living room area. She didn't waste anytime as she hurled herself at me. I flinched as her arms wrapped around me extremely tightly. She buried her face into my chest. Before I could say anything, she started crying. My eyes widened in surprise as I quickly hugged her closely.

"Maddie, what's wrong?" I croaked, "Did something happen?"

"I'm scared." she sobbed.

My eyes went to Itachi, who didn't say anything. He just got up then left. I frowned.

"He hurt me."

Everyone was watching us. Pein came closer.

"Who hurt you?"

I shot Pein a warning glare, but he ignored me.

"I can't tell you, or he'll hurt me again."

"Was it Itachi?"

She shook her head.

"It was them again."

"Them?"

"The Fakes."

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><p><strong>That's where I think that I am going to end this chapter. Please review, etc.<strong>


	8. Secret Organizations and Normal Day?

**Yo, it's been quite some time since I last wrote anything. I blame school and band. However, I am back and inspired to write stuff. This chapter has a part to it that references an organization that you'll hear more about later in the story. If you're confused, it'll all make sense later. I just wanted to add some people to be the "bad" guys in the story. I won't spoil anything, but here's the next chapter.**

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><p><strong>(Mal's POV)<strong>

The Wheeler car drove down the driveway, taking Layne further away from the house. Dante and I stood side by side as we waved goodbye. I nervously laughed while trying to ignore the scary aura coming from behind us. It didn't take a genius to know that it was the scary ginger haired guy that was the leader of the dangerous ninja criminals that now lived in Dante's house.

"How much longer are we going to have to wave?" I whispered.

"Until they are out of the driveway." Dante replied.

"Aw!"

We did not tell the ninjas that Layne was leaving until her mom came knocking on the front door. After ten minutes of Dante fighting with the ginger haired leader, and my skillful ability to distract Darla, Layne's mom, with stupid rants about school and church, we managed to get Layne a chance to head home. I don't know the details behind what the two talked about, but I get the feeling that he really doesn't want any of us to leave.

"Okay, they're gone."

Spinning around, I found that all the ninjas besides the orange masked dude. Seeing that Maddie isn't in the room, he's probably distracting her. The feeling in the room is extremely dark giving the impression that if you even bothered to breath, they would kill you. I didn't like it.

"Dude are we screwed?"

"Probably."

"Aw."

Without saying anything else, Dante moved across the room passed all the ninjas before taking a seat at his favorite spot at the counter. Their eyes went to me. Gulping, I followed Dante's example and sat on his other side, which was far away from the ninjas. If they were to attack, I planned on doing an epic flip from my chair right underneath the counter into the kitchen before fending them off with a knife from the silverware drawer, if I could reach it. Dante would be the one that they attacked first, but I think he could hold out better than me. He's much more fit than I am.

"You never told us that Layne was leaving." the ginger started off.

"Yeah, we just kind of found out like ten minutes beforehand." I blurted out.

"That is no excuse. You had time to alert us."

"Sorry, man."

He shot me a cold look making me shrink in on myself.

"You will address me as Leader. I do not want you calling me "man." Is that understood?"

"Y-Yes."

My hands gripped the bottom of my beanie. Why the heck does he have to be so scary? Why can't he look like a freaking butterfly, or better yet, why can't he look like one of those Heartless from Kingdom of Hearts? At least with a Heartless, he would be like smaller than me, and I would be laughing at him for being serious instead of scared shitless! A Heartless, unless you count the boss levels or those big plump ones that randomly popped up, disappeared if you just tapped them with a keyblade or weapon of some kind. This guy, he was never going to disappear. He would probably survive if there was an atomic bomb dropped on him. He seems like the cockroach type.

"Hey!" Dante snapped, "Don't talk to him like that!"

The ginger's eyes went from me to him.

* * *

><p><strong>(Unknown POV) Elsewhere<strong>

"This isn't good."

A figure leaned over an old wooden desk while staring at the screen of the laptop sitting slanted. Letting out a sigh, he pulled out a white plastic box with gold lettering then pressed his thumb on the top of the box before dragging out a thin cylinder. The figure placed the cylinder to his lips and lit the end with a red colored lighter.

"What isn't good?"

Another figure lumbering in the doorway of the office with her arms crossed took a step inside the room before turning to shut the door.

"I just got a message about a level D in the small town of Hartville and Uniontown."

"Ohio?"

"Yeah."

"That's unusual. Don't they normally pick big cities?"

"Are you stupid? Of course, they do. They feed off of other people. What the hell is McDouglas teaching you kids? I really don't know why we're letting him teach. He's not responsible enough to be left with educating anything. I don't care what the upper ranks say, he's not taking it seriously enough."

"About the level D."

"Hmm? Oh yeah. There's no reason to rush things. They're not doing anything just yet. I want to wait for their first move."

"The handbook told us that we're supposed to contain them before they cause any harm or damage to humans."

Laughter filled the room.

"The handbook? You'll rarely find a case where it works out perfectly like in the handbook. I wish that McDouglas actually tells you kiddies that. It would probably help you all in the long run. Oh well, there's no point in stating all the problems with McDouglas's teaching style. It's not his fault. The Order is strict with training."

"Sir, the level D."

"What about it?"

"We should really do something about it. There's no telling how dangerous this group is."

"Pssh, are you really that worried?"

"Yes."

"Fine, I'll send in one of my best agents to overlook the case."

"How soon?"

"I say...hmm, maybe a few days."

"How long is that going to be?"

"It's hard to say."

"Disc! You can't keep messing around, sir. There are people with their lives at risk here."

"Fine, I'll make sure that he's there in three days. Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes, thank you."

"You know what. You're a pain in the ass sometimes."

"I know, it's something that runs in the family."

* * *

><p><strong>(Dante's POV) Doe Household<strong>

"Are you going to have to leave?"

"No, not yet, man. My dad isn't coming back for five more days."

"He's on another business trip?"

"Uh-...yeah. This one is taking a long time to finish."

Mal nervously laughed. Rolling my eyes, I let out a sigh.

"I swear Mal, you're dad is a spy or something."

"Dude, I wish he was a spy. If he was, I could get awesome spy gear and finally figure out where all my socks are disappearing to."

A smile spread on our lips. I clicked the button on the remote control as the battle commenced on the screen. Everything somewhat calmed down with the members, but I highly doubted that they were going to let anyone of us out of their sight for a while. I might have gotten Layne out of the house safely, but they sent Zetsu to watch over her. I probably should tell her that, but I rather play Super Smash Bros with Mal.

"Shit!" Mal shouted, "There's a Kirby!"

"What?" I mumbled, "Stupid game always picks Kirby!"

"Want to tag team it?"

"Tsh, it's every man for himself."

"Fine, I'll kick your ass."

"Yeah, right. I have Link, and you're fucking Mario."

"Mario can still kick butt if you know how to use him."

Pressing a single button, I launched my sword towards the small Kirby. He countered it by sucking me into his mouth. My eyes widened.

"Damn it!"

"Ha! Ha! This is why I picked Mario. Kirby has a thing for characters with swords."

"That sounds wrong."

"Aw, it does sound wrong."

This actually felt kind of normal, but then, like all good things, it came to an end.

"What the hell are you two assholes doing?"

Pausing the game, I turned to see Hidan sitting on the couch with a can of Root Beer. He wasn't the only one in the room with us. Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, and Itachi were in here. Kisame and Deidara because they wanted to watch us play. Sasori and Itachi because they were dragged in here by their more emotional partners.

"We're playing a video game." Mal said, "Super Smash Bros. Do you want to join?"

"Yeah."

The Jashinist got to his feet then joined us on the floor in front of the TV. A smirk spread on my face. There was nothing better than the idea of kicking his ass at a video game.

"Mal, we should step it up a bit and play Call of Duty." I chuckled.

He opened his mouth only to shut it. After a couple seconds of staring at me, he finally seemed to get what I was doing. He placed his hands in the air before falling backwards onto his back.

"What the hell is Call of Duty?" Hidan asked.

"Just the best game ever." I answered.

Looking through my games, I eyed each one trying to figure out which one would be best when it came to destroying this asshole. Finally, I found it. My favorite game of all, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, only had to look over my shoulder before bursting laughing. Ignoring the confused look on the Jashinist's face, I began setting the game up.

"Should we do unlimited kills or a certain number?" I asked.

"Unlimited." Mal answered, "It's better that way."

"Yeah, but it isn't as much fun without the excitement of knowing you only have a certain number of lives that can be taken away."

"But, he hasn't ever played this game before."

"So? I don't give a shit. He's the one that wanted to play."

"Dude, have a heart. This man-..."

"There you go, you just called him a man. As a man, he should be able to figure it out on his own. That's what I did when I first played."

"Fine, he can figure it out, but at least, go easy on him."

He pulled his beanie while anxiously turning towards Hidan.

"Okay, Dante is pro at this, man." he stated, "So, you're going to want to-..."

"Shut the fuck up." Hidan snapped, "I can beat this bastard without any help."

"If you say so."

Chuckling to myself, I picked a total of ten lives.

"Here's the rule shithead." I mused, "You only get ten lives. We're playing in the Japan territory. You'll be part of the Red Team. The whole point of this game is to try and find the other person then kill them. If you take the other person down a certain number, you'll get some...I guess you can call it power-ups."

"The hell is that?"

"Well, it's special ways that you can kill or find the other person faster. Sometimes, it's bomb raids or dog attacks."

"Dog attacks? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life. Dogs can't kill me."

"We'll just have to see."

* * *

><p><strong>{Time Skip}<strong>

"God damn it!"

Hidan hurled the controller onto the ground before getting up then leaving the room. My smirk grew as I leaned back against the couch.

"Wow, you beat him in under fifteen minutes." Mal snickered, "That's a new record."

"Is it? I thought I beat you in ten."

"Yeah, but that was with unlimited lives and a ten minute timer. This was ten lives and unlimited time. There's a difference."

"True. Do you want to play, Mal?"

"Nah, I'm pooped out. I think I'm going to-..."

Mal fell backwards onto the ground before softly snoring.

"Well, he's out for a while."

Turning the game off, I glanced at the time.

"Should probably fix something to eat."

* * *

><p><strong>This is where I'll end the chapter. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Please review, follow, etc. because it really does help to know what you all think.<strong>


	9. School (Part 1)

**Okay, so I got really inspired to write this next chapter when it reached midnight last night then I ended up writing for two hours. I did not get much sleep last night. It wasn't a great loss since I haven't slept well this week because of camp. So, here's the next chapter of Sweet Dreams.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

Dragging myself out of bed, I entered the bathroom. Dark rings under my eyes welcomed me as I let out a yawn. Nothing says school like being part of the living dead. If only I could just skip school for the rest of my life, but this isn't like the old days where a kid could drop out of school and still have a boat load of jobs that could make him lots of money. Lifting a hand up in front of my face, I smelled my breath only to cringe. The hell is making my breath smell like shit? Rolling my eyes, I pulled out a toothbrush from inside the medicine cabinet. Behind me, I heard the door slowly opening. My eyes went to the mirror to see a half asleep Mal stumbling in. He clearly didn't notice me until he practically walked into me. His eyes widening in surprise as I glared at him.

"Yo Dante, what are you-..."

"We have school today."

"We do?"

"Yeah."

"What day is it?"

"Tuesday."

"Is it seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that sucks."

Once again rolling my eyes, I squeezed the tubing of an almost completely empty thing of minty toothpaste onto the bristles of the dark blue toothbrush before shoving it into my mouth. Immediately, I shuttered at the taste of mint covering every last part of tastebuds.

"Do the ninjas know that we have school today?"

Ninjas? What the he-...I choked on the toothpaste. Spitting most of it out at once into the sink, I coughed. That's right. The ninjas meaning the Akatsuki, who are holding us hostage in my own house. They kind of don't know about the whole school thing.

"Dude, you did not forget to tell them!"

"Don't give me that shit. I can't remember every little thing."

"Are you kidding me, man? The scary ginger guy almost killed us when Layne left. What the hell is he going to think when we tell him that all three of us need to go to school?"

I hate to say it, but Mal is right. Pein won't be pleased if I alert him of having to go to school on such short notice. However, we can't all three miss school. Maddie and I can get away with it, but not Mal. The school would be suspicious if we all three called off on the same day. They aren't stupid. They know how close Mal and I are.

"Give me a minute." I sighed, "I need to think this through."

"Okay."

Exiting the bathroom, I searched through my clothes trying to think of what I was feeling for today. After a good few combinations, I yanked on an Escape the Fate t-shirt, plaid long sleeved shirt with different shades of green, dark jeans with a black checker design, and black fingerless gloves. Glancing in the mirror on my wall, I smirked. I liked the way my hair actually looked today. It made me feel like I didn't look like a complete bastard. Maybe, just maybe, today would be a good day. Then, it all went to hell when I noticed a certain ginger standing behind a couple feet away. I didn't turn around to face him. I could see anger in his eyes even though he appeared emotionless. His arms are crossed in that same leader looking way that he always seemed to have whenever he was about to lecture me about some shit.

"Is there something you need, sir?" I said.

My voice ringed through the air as Pein's eyes narrowed.

"You never told us that you had to attend school." he spoke.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was going to tell you, but it kind of slipped my mind. I knew you would be pissed. I wouldn't mind staying home, but we have to go to school because it's kind of required by law to go."

"I didn't say that you weren't going."

"I know, I just thought I should mention that part."

"Dante, I am sending in two of my members to watch over the three of you. Zetsu will already be there if Layne is also attending. He'll watch over Layne and Madeline."

Flinching, I spun around.

"Wait just a second, who the hell are you sending in?"

"Watch your language towards me, Dante. I will not stand for disrespect from you."

"Yeah, yeah. Which members are you sending with us? Please tell me that it's not Kisame or Kakuzu. God, don't let it be Hidan. I can't stand him, and besides, they won't fit in."

"You can relax, I plan on sending in Sasori and Deidara with you since they seem to be the best choices in fitting in with the society of this world."

Sasori? My heart skipped a beat. If he's going to stay with me all day, there's no way in hell I'll be able to concentrate today. On the bright side, Itachi isn't going. Maddie would force him to stay with her for the day, and he looks like he could be a college student even though we were the same age, eighteen I think.

"I already spoke to them on their mission." Pein went on, "Dante, I expect Deidara to stick with you. Sasori will watch over Mal since he seems more likely to talk about us."

Some part of me died a little on the inside. I wanted Sasori to be with me, but I guess that was a good thing. Pein trusted me more than Mal. Layne is going to kill me when she learns that Deidara is going to be following me around all day though. Oh well, we have a class together, lunch.

"How are we going to pull off having the members at school?" I asked, "People don't just let strangers walk around the school building anymore. You have to be a student."

"Itachi took care of it already." Pein answered.

"What? When?"

"I do not need to go into details. Deidara and Sasori are both ready to leave."

"Right."

Without saying anything else, he left the room.

"Dude, that went smoother than I thought it would."

Mal hung halfway out of the bathroom tugging on the bottom of his shirt.

"It didn't go smooth at all." I muttered, "They're following us everywhere now."

"And what else is new?"

"Why do you get Sasori?"

"Are you jealous?"

A wicked smirk spread on his face.

"You like him, don't you?"

"I don't like him."

"Why are you pissed then?"

"Fuck you."

"Love you too, man."

**(Maddie's POV)**

It's been almost three days since I have come back at home, and I cannot get used to waking up to finding Itachi in my home. As I twirled in my room, I giggled. Konan watched from my bean bag chair as I looked through my clothes for the perfect look.

"What do you think about this one, Ms. Konan?"

Pulling out a white dress with pink flowers all over it, I placed it against my front.

"Is there a reason that you're dressing up?"

"Nah, I just love dresses."

"I wouldn't go with that dress."

"Okay."

So, that's obviously not the dress. I still have twelve other dresses that I can go with.

"How about this one? Actually, this one would look pretty on you, Ms. Konan."

(Mal's POV)

Munching on a burned piece of toast, I watched as Dante turned the coffeepot on. He looked like he was more awake than me by far. I don't know how he does it. I can barely keep awake in the mornings, but here he is multi-tasking everything. He's making a plate full of toast for the few ninjas awake, coffee for everyone later, listening to some Black Veil Brides, singing along with said Black Veil Brides, and finishing a worksheet for Algebra II that was due today. He looks like he has been awake for hours instead of a good twenty minutes. If only I could be more awake, but alas, I always look half asleep.

"So, what is this school of yours like?" the blonde haired ninja asked.

Swallowing a bite of toast, it took me a second to realize that he was talking to me, not Dante, because his eyes were locked with mine.

"Death." I answered, "It slowly consumes and overwhelms you to the point you become insane. The people, for the most part, are nice, but there are a lot of snooty people that makes the rest of us look like idiots."

He frowned like he was trying to figure something out.

"Dude, I'll let you in on something. The cool people are the geeks."

"Geeks? What's a geek?"

Laughter came from Dante as he put another slice of toast in front of me.

"A geek is the term for someone that wastes their time watching anime or cartoons, playing video games, and being part of an artistic program like band. Mal is the picture perfect definition of what a geek is."

Nodding my head, I picked up the toast while flipping it over examining the crust.

"This isn't slightly burned." I whined.

"So?" Dante replied, "You shouldn't even be eating burned toast. It's the same as eating a lump of coal. All the edible parts are slowly being destroyed when you burn it."

"So? Some of us actually enjoy eating things that are bad for us. Take your coffee obsession for example. Did you ever think that maybe drinking so much coffee is the reason that you can never sleep at night?"

"Yeah, but I honestly don't give a shit. The taste of coffee is just too good to give up. I like how when you make it right, it's dark and rich, but at the same time, it's creamy when you add just the right amount of creamer."

He shut his eyes while smiling like he was lost in thought. Knowing him, he's likely trying to remembering a time in his life when he had the perfect cup of coffee.

"You have a problem with coffee, man." I pointed out, "It's weird."

"Not as weird as your obsession with collecting video games. Seriously, how many games do you have? Fifty?"

"No, it's forty-six. Get your numbers right."

"Damn, how many games do you need? Have you beat every single one?"

"I can stop anytime I want. I just don't want to. Besides, I always beat the game. It gets boring beating the same game over and over again."

"Aren't most of them Zelda and Pokemon?"

"Yeah."

Zelda, she's the prettiest chick of all. No one can compare, and when you take into account her powers and ranking as a princess that also happens to be a goddess reincarnated throughout time, it was just too much. It was unfair that she couldn't be real because I would want a girlfriend like her. Sighing, I figured that this is the reason I don't have a girlfriend to begin with. I end up comparing every girl that I even think is cute to those in video games. At this rate, I'm going to die a virgin, which isn't a bad thing, but it's embarrassing.

"Should we head out?"

"Not just yet, Maddie isn't done getting dressed."

"What's taking her so long?"

Dante's eyes flickered to the side. Peering over, I saw the long dark haired male sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee while watching the news on the TV. If I remember correctly, he's the one that Dante said he suspected hurt Maddie. He's been trying to avoid Dante, but it's not working so well because you can only go so far in this house without seeing someone.

"I don't know, it's Maddie." Dante murmured, "She's so fucking confusing sometimes."

"Done!" A high pitch female voice rang.

Maddie rushed from the hallway into the area. She was wearing a Bemo sweatshirt, dark skinny jeans, and dark brown rider boots. Her long black hair was hanging down in a way that looked like she barely brushed it. I highly doubted that she did it, the female of the ninjas probably helped her.

"You need to wear a jacket." Dante stated.

"Why?"

"Because, it's cold as hell outside."

"So?"

"I don't want you getting sick."

"But, Layne goes outside all the time without jackets, and she never gets cold."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to not wear one."

"Dante, you're not the boss of me!"

"Maddie, I am the boss of you whenever mom and grandpa are gone. I got put in charge because I'm older."

"You're a meanie."

"I don't care. You're wearing a jacket."

"Fine, you're still a big, fat meanie, though."

"I can live with that."

Maddie went back down the hallway in a slower pace.

"I'm wearing my panda hat!" she yelled.

"Hell no!" he yelled back, "You can't wear that inside the school building!"

"I can be like Mal and wear it later!"

A cold glare from Dante made me shrink. I hate when she brings me into their arguments because it always leads to this same glare. Getting to my feet, I looked over at the two ninjas that were going to come to school with us.

"We better head outside."

They merely nodded likely wanting to escape the siblings as much as I did.

** (Maddie's POV)**

Puffing out my cheeks, I felt my cheeks getting hot as I stopped inside my room. Konan isn't in the room anymore, but I wasn't alone. Immediately, I felt myself trembling. He's back.

"Going to school?"

"Y-Yes."

"Good girl."

He reached his large hand out then roughly patted me on top of my head. It hurt.

"Behave yourself." he ordered.

Disappearing from the room, he left me by myself. I was used to the sudden visits, but I never got used to the way he made my stomach churn. He's not the same. He's different.

"Maddie hurry up!" Dante called from the hallway.

They're waiting. I can't think properly, but that's okay because I'm just going to school.

**(Mal's POV) Lake High School**

Once again, I feel overwhelmed. School hasn't even started yet, and the hallways are crowded with familiar faces. Somewhere along the lines of entering the school, I lost both Doe siblings, but not the red haired man with the name that starts with an "S." I wish he would just let me call him "S" since he's already irritated that I can't remember his name.

"Where are we heading?" the red haired male spoke.

"To my locker."

I glanced over at him to make sure that he didn't get lost when we went around a group of freshmen that decided to take up most of the hallway that was already extremely tiny and limited in space. He boldly went right through them without a single care that they cussed him out for doing so. It was the most impressive thing that I ever seen in my life. I guess that since he was a ninja, he didn't care what we little meek humans with no skills of ninja quality think of him since he's in a class of his own. I am going to learn his name just so that I can feel like I was part of that class. It's going to be my latest goal. Screw trying to defeat Guitar Hero World Tour, I am going to get this ninja on my side so he can teach me some ninja things that I can use to be awesome like him. I can't remember a lot about him from the stuff Dante said and showed me, but I remember he had something to do with poison.

"Are you in any classes with Dante?"

"Yeah, we're in four classes together. We're going to be on our own for the first two classes, but I have third period with him. We have French III."

"What's French?"

I almost asked him how he didn't know one of the most spoken languages in the world, but I caught myself. Of course, he doesn't know. He's from another world that doesn't have any other language than Japanese and English.

"It's a language that we are required to take because we need the credits to pass school. We suck at speaking it, but we can write it pretty good."

He didn't look like he honestly cared. I guess that he's not into the whole concept of school. He's just here to watch me. Dude doesn't know how lucky he is. I would kill not to have to take classes that could have everything or absolutely nothing to do with my future. Then again, he's a ninja. From what I watched, they went through living hell in every single mission they went through. I wouldn't trade spots with him even though it was the most bad ass thing in the world.

**(Dante's POV)**

"Okay, you remember to keep the transformation jutsu activated?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Good, I don't want people freaking out about your hands."

Deidara chuckled. He knew as well as I did that while it would be funny as hell if someone freaked out over it, we didn't need the attention. We would get a lot of it later when people would learn that he's not from around here. Lake kids tend to be from this area there whole lives, and there's not really many new students. The few kids that do come from other places are asked a million questions every time they show up. I had to train both Sasori and Deidara all the things they are to tell people if asked. I don't know if they'll be able to keep up with it, but it's worth a try. Who knows, they might be able to pull this off.

"You jerk!"

Emerging from around a crowd of people, Layne scowled at me.

"What did I do this time?" I said.

"You didn't tell me that they sent someone to watch me." she whispered, "I had to find out the hard way when I found Zetsu merged with the fake tree in my living room. Do you know how terrifying that is? I almost had a heart attack because my family was in the room with me. I had to pretend I saw a spider and hit him with a pillow."

"You hit him with a pillow?"

"That's all you got from my story?"

"No, I just find it hilarious that you hit him with a pillow."

"Yeah well, why didn't you tell me?"

"Uh, I was going to, but something came up."

"You were playing video games with Mal."

Looking away, I realized that it wasn't the smartest thing to do.

"You're a jerk." Layne laughed.

"I can live with that."

"I don't know how."

"I do. It's called "I'm Dante, I don't give a shit." If you don't like that, then sucks to be you."

Instead of getting upset, she just shook her head while laughing slightly. That's when I remembered the blonde haired terrorist standing by me,

"Oh, have you met my good friend Danny here?" I mused, "He's from Columbus, but his family moved here because his dad is now working at an office in Canton. He has an older brother named Seth coming as well, but he's following Mal around."

Smirking, she shook her head.

"No, I never met this "Danny" in my life."

"Danny, this is Layne. Layne, this is Danny."

"Nice to meet you, Danny. I'm part of the geeky group that Dante is leads."

"If I didn't, you would be doing stupid things."

"Not me, I'm smart enough not to get caught. Mal and Maddie still haven't gotten the hang of it."

"You get caught. Remember seventh grade year when you taped the threat of skinning someone to make a skin coat on your locker only to have the Vice Principal find it. You didn't just do it once, you kept taping it up whenever you found it missing, and that's when you finally got caught."

Her face turned bright red.

"How was I supposed to know that Mrs. Lipton was the one taking it down? I assumed that it was Allison!"

"No one besides a teacher would touch a threatening poster on a locker about skinning someone alive. Trust me on that one."

"Way to tell me now! If I had known that then I wouldn't have ever done it."

"It wouldn't have helped. You were pissed as hell."

A bell dinging above our heads caused me to flinch. Chuckling at Deidara's reaction, I patted him lightly on the back.

"It's just the bell signally school."

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I glanced back at Layne.

"Well, we've got to head to class. See you at lunch."

"Bye!"

* * *

><p><strong>That was eventful. I hope you enjoyed that. The next chapter will continue with the school day. Please review, follow, etc. because it helps.<strong>


	10. School (Part 2)

**(Dante's POV)**

"I don't get it. Dante, what is it saying?"

My right eye twitched as I gripped my arms tightly.

"Uh, I know that "si" means if. So, I think it's saying "If Tina takes the dog for a walk, she will get to go to her friend's house." Or something along those lines."

"Works for me!"

Mal scribbled down the sentence on the thin black line. His smile grew as he peered at the next sentence. I don't know why he is still taking French at this point. He rarely understands what the hell is going on half the time. I guess that it's one of life's greatest mystery.

"Okay, I know that the next sentence has the word for eat. So, are they saying something about eating?"

My eyes scanned the next sentence.

"Yeah, it says that the boys are eating your face."

"Huh?"

A smirk worked its way onto my lips.

"Yeah, it has the word for boys right there."

I pointed at his sheet.

"It can't say that the boys are eating face." Mal protested, "Why would Madame Teal do that to us? She's not violent. She's like a kitten without the claws."

"Well, even kitten have to have claws sometimes." I replied.

"Let's skip this sentence and move on."

"Nah, the sentence says something about little boys eating pizza."

"I knew that you were lying."

"Very good, you're learning shit."

There is nothing worse than a day at school. The classes are boring for the most part, and now, the Akatsuki are following me around everywhere that I go. Glancing over, I saw Sasori and Deidara talking amongst one another. If I didn't have anything to do with them, I might have thought that they were two regular teens talking about some shit that I didn't care to listen to. However, I do know them. They are secretly watching the both of us, but they're skilled at looking normal.

"Dude, I don't think that I am going to do French next year." Mal sighed, "I suck at this."

"You're telling me. I've been the one doing all the work."

"Don't be a jerk, man. I was just telling you."

"Okay, whatever. Let's get this worksheet done. It's due at the end of the period."

"Okay!"

**(Normal POV) Doe Household**

The remaining Akatsuki members sat around the living room. With the siblings away, they could safely go on with a meeting without the risk of being overheard.

"Now that we have the chance to discuss a plan of action, it is important that we begin looking into any possible way of heading back home." Pein announced, "We are already certain that the people of this world have chakra, but it is unknown if anyone can use it. So far, it is safe to assume that no one knows anything about its existence because Dante mentioned that there is no such thing as shinobi."

"Are we completely sure about that?" Kakuzu asked, "We have only encountered the four brats. Are we even sure how we arrived in this world?"

"No, we are uncertain about this society." Konan answered, "We are also uncertain about how we came to this world. If we did know, Pein would have already figured out a way to get us back to our world."

"Is there any way to figure out what kind of jutsu was used?"

"That is what we are trying to do. It'll take a while to find the source, but we managed to learn that it did come from this world."

"Do you think that one of the brats did it?"

"No, the chakra source isn't the same as their chakra signatures. It has to be someone else's work."

"Are you sure that none of them have used their chakra once? Surely, they have tried to use it at least once."

"No."

"Wait a second."

"What is it Itachi? Is there something that you haven't told us?"

All eyes swifted to the Uchiha.

"It was nothing of great importance, but there was a strange chakra source in the household. When I attempted to find it, the source disappeared. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but it could be something to look into. The girl, Madeline, she seems to notice it as well."

"What makes you say that?"

"The last time that I sensed it, it was in her room with her just before she left for school."

"So, there is someone else in this house that we don't know about?"

"I believe so."

"This is something that we need to figure out. When they return, we will have to question them on the matter. The last thing, we need is to have another possible person that can blow our location to their military. From what we have witnessed, the law enforcement won't be a problem, but their military is a different matter. Even at our full strength, it seems that we won't be able to fend them off."

"Are you fucking kidding me? A bunch of weaklings that can't use their own chakra take the likes of us down? How the hell does that shit happen?"

"Their technology and weapons are more advanced."

"That's bullshit. I say that we just do what the fuck we want. I don't want to wait around in this hell hole for much longer. I want to do something."

"Hidan, we can't do anything until we learn the full extent of our situation."

"But-..."

"That's an order. Do not go against it unless you want to re-learn the punishment for disobeying my orders."

"Fine, but I still think we should at least move locations."

"No, this seems to be the ideal location for our base of operation."

**(Dante's POV) Lake Local School**

I swear to god that I was going to rip Deidara limb by limb if he asked me what the hell was going on one more time. We're both stuck in Chemistry with Mr. Doyle, who hasn't taught this course in over twenty years. He's only filling in our teacher, who gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

"Okay class, we're going to work on the study guide the whole period." Mr. Doyle said, "You can listen to your music only if you have headphones. No using your phones to look up any information on the worksheets."

Well, that took out all my chances of finishing this worksheet within the period.

"I'm going to pass this out, make sure to work hard on it."

Yeah, I'll work hard on it, but only because I won't be able to concentrate with the Akatsuki back at home.

"Hey, do I have to do this?" Deidara blurted out.

He stood on his feet meeting the eyes of Mr. Doyle, earning everyone's attention. I wanted to facepalm at how stupid the blonde was being. Is he seriously a ninja because he doesn't act like one.

"Yes, youngster." Mr. Doyle answered, "I expect that you will be able to get it done."

A groan came from him. Yeah, he's already seeing how shitty school can be. If the Akatsuki stay here longer than the rest of the school year, I can't wait to see what Deidara will be like when he has to deal with exam week. I chuckled silently only to remember that he could possibly cheat his way to success. It was something that they endured at the Chunnin Exams in the original Naruto series. Since he's an S-rank ninja, it should be a piece of cake.

**(Normal POV)**

The small office of Mr. Tobin, Principal of Lake High School, stood neatly organized in a simple manner. A desk with a computer, loads of paperwork, writing materials, and photos of his children. A total of four chairs, three in front of the desk, and one sitting with the pleasantly golly looking Principal. There was awards and other photos of his family hanging on the wall, but he didn't have much decorations. Much a disappointment seeing as he was the type of guy that wanted to cover the walls in nothing besides red, white, and blue to show how proud he was of the school district.

"Hello, welcome to Lake High School." Mr. Tobin greeted, "You must be the boy that was moved here all the way from Washington D.C."

His brown eyes stared across the desk at the tall kid in front of him. It always made him guilty when he looked into the eyes of student that held so much fear or resentment in having to sit in his office. Normally, he never dealt with them because of the work that he was always called upon, and he left the two Vice Principals to look after them. However, this was a different situation altogether. This was a new student that was getting forced into moving to a new place. He didn't understand the whole story, but he did know that there was something off about him.

"Yes." the teen spoke.

The timbers of his voice were soaked in fear even though he remained emotionless, something Mr. Tobin wasn't used to.

"Um, where's your guardian?" Mr. Tobin asked.

"He's busy at work." he answered, "I'm sorry, sir, but could we do this without him?"

"Uh, I'm sorry. You need to have your legal guardian here to sign some papers and-..."

"Sir, I don't mean to be a bother, but he's not even in the same state as us."

"What? Are you living here by yourself?"

Shifting upwards, Mr. Tobin rested his right hand on top of the phone that was sitting in the corner of his desk. This caused the teen in front of him to suddenly grab hold of his hand. Jerking from the swift movement, the principal banged his back against the wall behind him.

"There's no need to resort to violence. All I was going to do was make a call to your guardian. He needs to know that he has to be here when you transfer schools."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. Just relax, I am used to doing things by myself. I've never done public school before. This is new to me. It's new to my "guardian" as well. So, can you please don't bother him? He's working hard at something important right now."

"But, he-..."

"I guess it is too much to ask. Alright then, this is for the sake of the mission."

"What are you-..."

A faint blue light came off the teen as he shut his eyes.

"I must warn you ahead of time that you aren't going to be able to remember this part of the conversation. You will also likely feel nauseated, dizzy, and delusional for a while when I release you from this."

Before Mr. Tobin could say anything else, two bright yellow orbs met his gaze. All thoughts exited his mind. He couldn't think or remember what he was doing, and his body felt like air. It was almost like he no longer existed.

"Are you relaxed?"

"Yes."

"Ssssh, that'ssss good. Let'ssss get down to it."

"Okay."

"I want to join the sssschool by tomorrow."

"Okay."

"I alsssso want to be moved into the ssssame courssssessss assss the boy with thissss name."

A crumpled piece of paper was placed on the desk before being slid across the desk.

"Okay."

"Good, that concludessss thissss meeting. If anyone asssskssss, there wassss another man in the room. Don't let them fool you into thinking that it wassss jusssst the two of ussss."

"Okay."

"Now, ssssleep. You look like you haven't sssslept well."

"Okay."

The teen stood up before turning. Behind him, Mr. Tobin slumped over unconscious. The light blue light disappeared from the teen as he rubbed his eyes.

"Disc needs to stop setting me up like this." he murmured.

**(Dante's POV)**

Yawning, I shoved shit into my backpack while trying not to get knocked over by the passing people that were trying to get the hell out of the building. Deidara blocked some of them with his body, but after a while, he decided that I would be the better shield. I cursed under my breath as someone rammed into my body hard enough that I almost fell over.

"Assholes." I grumbled.

Shoving another textbook, I practically kicked my locker door shut. A smirk spread on my lips as I stared at the small impressions of where my foot had hit it multiple times during the school year. Yeah, I had anger issues, but I was slowly working them out. I couldn't wait until I got home to beat the shit out of my punching bag in the basement.

"Hey Dante."

Peering up, Mal emerged out of the crowd with Sasori barely trailing after him. Behind them was Maddie and Layne, who both seemed to be chatting about something funny because they were cracking up. It's good to see that they were enjoying themselves. They deserved it after the last few days with the Akatsuki.

"Is everyone ready to go back to the house?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Maddie answered excitedly.

God, I wish that Itachi wasn't back at the house. He was going to be a dick and make moves on my sister, who doesn't have a clue what he was doing. I hate that bastard. If he doesn't watch himself, I was going to beat the shit out of him.

"Hey dude," Mal said, "could you get me something to eat?"

"Like what?"

"I'm feeling fries and coffee."

"From where?"

"Uh, anywhere besides McDonald's."

"Is it okay to have Wendy's? Alexis works there. She'll be able to get us the good stuff."

"Ooh, change the coffee to a medium Frosty!"

A blur of black made me jump back as Maddie came between Mal and me.

"Did someone say Frosty?" she smiled.

"Uh, yeah." I replied, "We were thinking about going to Wendy's. Mal wants a Frosty."

"Can I have one?"

"Only if you promise not to tell mom later, she doesn't want you having any sugar."

"I love you, Dante."

She squeezed her arms around me while rubbing her face against my chest. I sighed. I know that I was going to regret this.

"Where are you going?"

Sasori made his appearance known as he glared up at me. His short stature surprisingly did not make him look less threatening.

"We're going to a fast food place, man." Mal told him, "It's close to here."

"You are to go directly from school back to the house."

"But, I want food."

"You can get food from the house."

"But, there's no chocolate ice-cream there."

"I don't care. Our orders were to follow you around this place until the day ends."

There was no point in arguing with him. He's a stick in the mud.

"Sorry guys, I forgot about the Akatsuki." I stated, "We can't go anywhere without asking their leader first. We're going to need to head back to the house."

"Aw!" Mal and Maddie groaned, "Frosties!"

"I know, we can get them some other time."

I honestly didn't know if we were ever going to have a chance to go to Wendy's ever again. Pein isn't too into the idea of going to places where we could blow their cover.

* * *

><p><strong>That was the end of chapter 9. Hope you enjoyed it! Oh, the comment about the little boys in the French class scene was inspired by my own experience with a friend of mine. She's hilarious! She would always make comments about collecting little boys in French. I thought it would work as a tribute to my friend, we're no longer French students. She had no desire to learn any more French, and it didn't fit with my schedule due to it being the same period as my Jazz band. I had to audition to get into Jazz band, so I wasn't going to give that up anytime soon. <strong>

**Anyways, we'll find out the mysterious guest in the next chapter. Until then, please review, follow, etc.**


	11. Grocery Store

_**Dear Readers,**_

_**It certainly has been a wonderful holiday break! I got myself a new laptop along with some new art supplies, so now I can move on with my passions. I won't bore you all for too long, but I just wanted to mention that I felt like I managed to grow up a little bit this break. I thought long and hard about a lot of different things. One of which is the idea of friends. I will not go into detail with some of the things that have happened to me, but I managed to find two new friends this year that have meant a lot to me. Both are younger. Both are freshmen in high school. Both are trumpet players that I get the pleasure of hanging out with every day. They have literally been there with me as I dealt with many unpleasant things, and I have a deep respect for them. I know that they will grow a lot through high school, but I hope that it is not in a terrible way. **_

_**Enough being said, I will go on with the chapter. I hope you do enjoy!**_

_**From,**_

_**Ori and Benny**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>(<strong>_**Normal POV)**

"I thought I'd made it clear, we have a no abduction policy!"

"She wasn't cooperating. What did you expect me to do?"

"I don't know, maybe not abduct her!"

"So, should I release her?"

"No! What's wrong with you?! She probably already seen everything. You can't let her go, not until we wipe her memory clean."

"No problem. I already done it."

Motioning towards his right, the figure smirked at the woman poking the fish tank. Bubbles stirred through the tank causing her to release giggles.

"Are you kidding me?! She clearly forgotten too much!"

"Relax, you don't know that."

He slowly inched towards the giggling woman. Touching her shoulder, the woman jumped before turning towards him.

"Mrs. Doe do you remember who I am?"

A single poke to his nose caused him to frown as he grabbed hold of her hand before she could try it again.

"Do you know your name?"

Clicking her tongue in response, she smiled.

"She doesn't know how to speak. You robbed this woman of her ability to function in the world as an adult. I hope you know that you are a terrible human being."

"So? I don't recall that being on my job description."

"You have to fix her!"

"Fix her? She's basically a baby."

"Well, you should have thought about that before you turned her into this state."

"Why am I-...?"

"Because you went against our policies and not only kidnapped her but also took away too much of her memories."

"Damn it, I don't have time for that."

"Too bad."

* * *

><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

When I first encountered the Akatsuki, I knew that I was going to have many problems with them. That I was going to have my friends dragged into this because of my own stupidity. However, I forgot that with a bunch of people in one household, I was going to have to get more food. After dropping Layne and Maddie off at the house, I got orders from Pein to go shopping for supplies. That wouldn't have been so hard, but then, he had to send Itachi, Kisame, and Kakuzu with us. Poor Mal, he had to squeeze in the back with the two biggest members of the Akatsuki. As I glanced back in the mirror, I could see Mal trying not to touch either male. He was practically holding his breath like if he didn't, he would accidently gain the mass needed to touch both. I had told them that neither would hurt him, but he didn't seem to believe me.

"Dude could I please sit up front when we come home?"

"No, there's no fucking way that Uchiha can fit back there with those two."

"Well, could one of them sit up front because I'm crammed.

"That's up to them."

"Please!"

A growl came from Kakuzu causing Mal to immediately scoot closer to Kisame.

"Would you shut up?" Kakuzu said, "You're starting to give me a headache."

"Y-Yeah, okay, man."

Rolling my eyes, I pulled into the parking lot at Marc's. Parking in a spot a little away from the store front, I let out a sigh.

"Pein told me that you are all to use a jutsu of some kind to look more normal. In your case, Itachi, you're to turn off the Sharingan."

He only nodded while blinking. The red disappeared leaving behind only the black. I don't know if he really turned it off. Hell, it could have been a Genjutsu, but I didn't care. Not as long as it didn't look like the Sharingan. In the back, there were two puffs of smoke that caused me to practically throw myself out of the car. Out of the smoke, Kisame stood with regular colored skin with his hair still the same shade of blue. His eyes, now blue as well, peered back at me as he smirked. Kakuzu's stitches disappeared, but his skin color was the same. His eyes remained green only without the red. All in all, they looked normal. Scary as hell, but normal.

"Let's get this over with." Kakuzu spoke, "I don't like the look of this place."

Maybe, it would have been better not to have taken the miser. He would have a heart attack over the price of food that would be able to feed everyone. Then again, he might just be the type of person that can get around that. He might have tips that could save us money.

"Dude, I say that we get ice-cream!"

"Mal, I thought you didn't want ice-cream."

"That was until, we got here."

"Okay, I think it would be better if we divide and conquer. You get everything on this half of the list. I'll get the rest."

"Aw yeah! I get all the good stuff!"

"You mean the unhealthy ass stuff. Limit yourself to what you exactly get. We can't have a bunch of junk food all the time."

"Dang man, I wasn't going to."

"Kisame, Itachi, you two should go with Mal. Kakuzu can stay with me."

The two nodded as I roughly yanked out a shopping cart only to see them eyeing it like it was a devil. That shouldn't be surprising because I was barely able to get them into the car.

"Why do two ninjas have to go with me?" Mal complained.

"Because you're more likely to get yourself into trouble than me. That and, you could pass out at any moment. It's better to have two of them with you, so one can carry your ass while the other gets the things on the list. I do not want to spend my whole night shopping, if I don't need to."

"Right, we'll be heading out now. Ninjas away!"

Rolling my eyes, I met Kakuzu's gaze as he motioned for the list in my hands. After five seconds of having a staring war, I decided that it would be better not to fight with him. Handing him the list, he only took one glance before heading in the opposite direction of Mal and his newly founded body guards. Following Kakuzu, I frowned at the cart that was squeaking and freezing up. Like most of the carts that seemed to be at Marc's, it was not going to work for me. However, I wasn't going to make the mistake of keeping Kakuzu waiting. He was already glaring back at me like my pace wasn't good enough for him. Some part of me wanted to tell him that it was harder than it looked, yet I didn't tell him this.

"The first thing on the list is cereal." Kakuzu read out loud.

"Yep."

"What kind?"

"Maddie likes anything with chocolate, but she won't eat anything like Trix. Mal won't eat anything plain because he hates plain tasting cereal. Layne doesn't give a shit what kind of cereal we get. I don't really care either as long as it isn't cheerios."

A glare in response caused me to let out a sigh. I didn't know what to tell him. We didn't ever seem to settle on one brand of cereal because it didn't seem important to us. However in the sake of everyone's well-being, I picked up a box of Cookie Crisp. It was cheap compared to everything around it, and it pretty much suited everything I said. Maddie's chocolate obsession, Mal's non-plain taste, Layne's inability to care what brand, and it wasn't cheerios. Putting it in the cart, I expected the miser to point something out about the prices, but he didn't. He just began to push the cart onward. It was a relief.

"Next is fruits and vegetables."

* * *

><p><strong>(Mal's POV)<strong>

"Uh..."

Staring at Dante's horrible hand writing, I managed to decipher what looked like the words "ice-cream." Immediately, I smirked. He knew that I was going to try and smuggle it with or without his permission.

"Ice-cream is first thing!" I announced to the two ninjas.

Both just stared back at me. It was unsettling, but nothing about them really made them look like kind souls. I bet that they were secretly plotting to murder every single one of us. If so, I hoped that it would be in our sleep. I don't want to be conscious when they painful tear me apart.

"Do you guys have a certain flavor, you like?" I asked.

"I don't eat sweets." Kisame answered, "But Itachi does."

My eyes traveled to the black haired man as I winced at the intensity of his eyes. Even though they were no longer red, they were still as frightening as before. In fact, I think that he looks slightly more evil. It almost looked like he was piercing right through my soul with his eyes.

"Uh, does he have a flavor he likes?"

His eyes narrowed. Maybe, I shouldn't have tried asking his sharky friend the question when he's right there, but to be honest, I'm more terrified of Itachi than Kisame. The dude can create a nightmare realm where he gets to torture you for three days. That and, he can create fire with his eyes. His freaking eyes! Dear God, there was no way that I want to get on his bad side.

"He doesn't like anything fruity." Kisame replied, "But other than that, he doesn't."

"I can live with that!"

Spinning around, I led us towards the coldest section of the whole store. With glass cases frost bitten, I pressed my face to it to get a better look. It was cold as hell, but I was willing to sacrifice myself for the good of mankind.

"Uh...peanut butter, moose track, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, chocolate lovers, blue moon, brownie fudge, coffee, toffee, salted caramel, cookies and cream, mint."

My eyes narrowed.

"Ew, mint! That's disgusting! Why would someone torment themselves like that?"

Laughter caused me to pull away to look over at my two friends.

"I'm guessing, you don't like mint." Kisame mused.

"Not at all. I had terrible experiences with mint flavored ice-cream."

Peering back in, I knew immediately that chocolate flavor would be favored by everyone besides Dante, who had a strange obsession with vanilla. After looking for the fifth time, I opened the door only to shiver at the sudden gust of freezing air that blew at me. Quickly grabbing the container, I slammed it shut.

"Chocolate and vanilla?"

"Yeah that way, everyone is happy. Maybe, we could even make some milkshakes. Dante is the best at it!"

"What's a milkshake?"

"You don't know?"

"No."

"Well then, I don't know how to explain it. You have to taste it and live, man. Tell Dante, that he has to make one for you when we get home."

"Why me?"

"He'll just call me an idiot and that I can make it myself, but I always screw it up. Then, he yells at me."

Kisame laughed.

"It's the circle of life!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

Hiding behind the lettuce stand, I ignored the possible fight that was stirring as Kakuzu ranted about the cost of a pound of apples to a random employee that had no connection to setting the price. I sighed while trying to debate what would be the best course of going about collecting the goods. That's when something black caught my eyes. Glancing up, I immediately found my body rushing as I tackled the miser to the ground. He thrashed underneath and almost got me off when I looked towards the startled male.

"Run!" I shouted, "Run like hell!"

He stared like a dumbass, but it finally seemed to click as he rushed into the back of the store away from our sight. A tentacle wrapped around my throat lifting me off the ground. Gasping for air, I gripped the tentacle trying to pry it away. However, it failed seeing as he was ten times stronger.

"K-Kakuzu...can't breath."

It only seemed to tighten. Things were starting to go black. Kakuzu obviously didn't seemed to be in his right state of mind. Rage over being tackled must have set him over the edge.

"Kakuzu stop."

My body fell on the floor as I coughed while getting as much air as I could into my lungs. Everything is spinning, and all I want to do now is to pass out. Yet, I don't. It would have been a bad idea to pass out in the store.

"Dude are you okay?" Mal asked.

"Yeah." I answered.

Getting to my feet, I rubbed my neck where the marks were likely forming. This day seemed to be getting worse and worse.

"Okay, we officially screwed shit up!" I announced, "Grab what stuff we had in the cart and head to the check out line because we're not going to be able to come back."

"Right!"

I held the top of the cart then quickly began heading towards the cash registers. My head was still spinning, but I ignored everything because there was nothing I could fucking do.

* * *

><p><strong>(Layne's POV) Doe household<strong>

"Maddie, do you have a five?"

"Go fish!"

"Damn it!"

Reaching into the pile, I picked up a card. Sure, it was boring to play when there were only three other people, and two happen to be ninjas. However, I think that it's better than nothing at this point.

"Layne, do you have a five?" Deidara asked.

My eyes met his as I held back every urge to slap my cards down.

"You're a jerk." I answered while handing him my five.

He only smirked and placed it down where we could see it. This was the one reason that I hated this game more than anything else. Every time that I tried to play, my cards go to the other people. Now, I only have three more cards, and I am likely to lose them as well.

"Maddie-chan, do you have a queen?" Tobi spoke.

"Yes~!" Maddie giggled.

She handed him the card. Being Maddie, she rarely got bored playing games when someone like Tobi joined in. Those two are so childish that it always amazed me how they could go on for hours playing one single game. Some part of me wished that Dante and Mal were around to talk about anything besides cartoons or games. However, they were still off grocery shopping. It had been a good hour and a half. It doesn't usually take that long.

"Layne, it's your turn." Maddie said.

Her voice brought me back to reality. That's when the sound of the door opening caught out attention. Turning around all the way, I watched as the five guys came in while carrying bags.

"Dante!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Dante's POV)<strong>

As I put the stuff away, I couldn't help noticing the looks people gave me. The marks around my neck from where Kakuzu strangled me were evident. Tomorrow before I go to school, I would have to wear something like a scarf to hide it, at least, until it heals all the way.

"Where did those marks on your throat come from?"

Konan inched closer as I moved away. It was embarrassing enough that I nearly passed out at Marc's. Now, I was sure as hell not going to let people view me as the victim of attempted murder.

"Hold still." she ordered.

Biting my lip, I winced at the pain from how freezing her hand was.

"Damn." I muttered.

"Did someone try to choke you?" Konan asked while ignoring my pain.

A glimpse towards Kakuzu had me glaring.

"I'm fine." I answered, "Just a little accident."

With that, I left the room not wanting to drag anything out. Everyone knew that Kakuzu almost killed me. There was no reason to explain what went down. I refuse to be the victim in their eyes because they sure as hell don't actually care. They just want to keep me alive to use me. Sucking in a breath, I found myself in my room. The door was shut behind me, not locked, just closed. I leaned up against it. Today, I got the first impression of what it was going to be like to be murdered by these people, and honestly, it was very unpleasant. Why did I think it would be a good idea to take Kakuzu of all people to a grocery store? He's a grouchy bastard.

"Is something wrong?"

Recoiling, I realized that Sasori was sitting on my bed while reading my French III textbook. His brown eyes met mine as my heart skipped a beat. I almost opened my mouth to lie to him, but instead, I slid down into a seated position.

"I'm just tired." I answered truthfully, "I haven't slept well in days, and I almost died at the store."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah, Kakuzu choked me until Kisame pulled him off."

There was a moment of silence before I heard the bed shifting. Sasori crouched in front of me. Again, I felt my heart skipping beats as his finger gazed over the marks on my throat. He pulled it back.

"It's already forming a bruise."

"Yeah, I know. Looks like, I'll be wearing scarves for the next few days."

Chuckling, I could picture all the things that people were likely to say. People already think terrible things about me for liking guys, but now, they'll be talking about how we likely do kinky shit in my bedroom when in reality, I saved some poor Marc's worker from lying dead in his own blood.

"I hope that you don't mind the gossip that is going to start tomorrow." I muttered.

"What for?"

"Come on, think about it. A bi-sexual kid living with an exchange student that is male. He goes to school the next day wearing a scarf. They'll be thinking that I have hickies until I take it off to prove otherwise, but even then, they'll think I'm in an abusive relationship. It's a lose-lose situation. I either look like a slut or victim."

"You're overreacting over all of this."

"You think?"

"I would have never assumed anything from seeing a person wear a scarf."

"Tssh, you've never experienced high school. Nothing interesting ever happens at Lake, so when people assume shit, they talk. They talked when I came out. They talked when Mal's step-dad beat him half to death. They talked when they found out about Layne's dad. They talk about that kid that made it on the Voice. Nothing goes by the Lake kids."

He continued to stare at me. His fingers once again touched my throat, but this time, there was a sudden warmth coming off them. I winced at the pain. Only, it began to fade. After a good minute or two, he removed his hand before standing up.

"There." he said, "Now, you don't have to worry about the gossip."

"Huh?"

"I healed your bruises."

Getting to my feet, I rushed into my bathroom and looked into the mirror. Instead of marks, it was normal. Unable to say anything, I unconsciously touched it to see if it were some sort of illusion, but it wasn't. My throat was back to normal thanks to Sasori.

"Thank you." I smirked as I came out of the bathroom, "It's nice to know someone cares."

"Don't get the wrong idea." he replied, "I don't care about your idiotic problems. I just didn't want you to whine. I already get it enough from Deidara."

"Thank you, anyways."

Nodding his head, he went back to reading the page. Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I sat down next to him with my Frankenstein book. It was nice.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I think that will do for this chapter. I hope that you like it because the next chapter is going to introduce the mysterious character. In the mean time, please review, favorite, etc.<strong>


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